Air China suspends flight attendant over personal data breach involving 20 celebrities
- Employee accused of publishing personal information on social media about famous passengers, including Jing Boran, Ni Ni, Zhang Jie, Du Juan and Su Bingtian
- Investigation launched after leak, which happened in July, was reported by industry blogger
An Air China flight attendant accused of publishing personal information on social media about the celebrities he served in the air has been suspended, the company said on Friday.
The airline launched an investigation after aviation industry blogger Chao Cewei blew the whistle on a post made on Weibo – China’s Twitter-like platform – in July by the employee, who used the online name Ruo Chen.
In his post on Friday, Chao said that Ruo had published information on about 20 celebrities on Weibo, including details of their flight records, membership card status, nationality and date of birth.
“On the passenger’s flight record cards are red characters saying that ‘Passengers’ personal information is forbidden to be circulated outside [the company]’. But he still released it and did so repeatedly,” Chao said.
One of Ruo’s posts showed him dressed in his flight attendant uniform and standing on a plane beside actor Jin Dong, he said.
