China Vows to Punish Passengers Involved in ‘Noodle Rage’ Incident
The Chinese government has promised to throw the book at the disgruntled passengers who recently threw hot water and noodles at a flight attendant.
The China National Tourism Administration has promised severe punishment for the four Chinese nationals who caused an AirAsia flight to return to Bangkok International Airport (BKK) after a bizarre air rage incident last week, reports AP.
The group was traveling on a charter flight from BKK to Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG) on December 11 when they reportedly became upset that they were not seated together. An unnamed flight attendant who helped the traveling companions switch to adjoining seats took the brunt of their outrage.
The AirAsia flight returned to BKK after one of the passengers threw hot water and noodles at the flight attendant. Cell phone footage of the noodle-throwing fit was aired on Chinese television, and one of the irate passengers can be heard loudly threatening to bomb the plane. The widespread coverage of the incident in state-run media is seen as a cautionary tale about acceptable behavior for other potential overseas travelers.
Nearly 100 million Chinese citizens traveled abroad in 2014. With more of its people traveling abroad than any other country on the planet, government officials have become increasingly concerned about the image Chinese tourists project overseas. Even Chinese President Xi Jinping took time during a recent state visit to Maldives to publicly address the antisocial behavior of Chinese visitors to the islands.
The National Tourism Administration did not rule out the possibility of punishing the travel agency that planned the trip, suggesting that the agency could be punished for failing to explain proper travel etiquette to its clients.
Chinese officials told AP that in addition to causing injuries and disrupting a flight, the out-of-control passengers “badly damaged the overall image of the Chinese people.”
[Photos: CEN via Daily Mail]
They have a simple policy--if you want to sit next to your "flight partner", then pay for seats. How is this different from EasyJet assigning me a middle seat in the back of the plane when I book more than a month out and nearly the entire seat map is showing empty? Of course, I'm not in favour of that either, but AirAsia hardly stands alone.
AirAsia is terrible. I booked 11 flights and not once was I sat next to my flight partner, even when the flight wasn't full! Lazy check in staff and a policy to annoy pax mean that nutters are pushed to do such unacceptable things to the flight crew.
Was the F/A badly burned? I can't imagine it is too much fun to have hot water thrown in your face... she may end up losing her job because of the airline's "appearance standards" or whatnot... BTW, stereotypes like these are a bit of an over-reach. There are unruly passengers of all nationalities. If you ask me, I think Russians and other Eastern Europeans are the worst (I'm Polish, so bite me if you don't like it). But what about Brits who get drunk on flights from Ibiza? Or crazy-arse Floridians who scream at Muslim women on flights in the US? (remember that one?) So there are bad seeds everywhere. Give them a 5 year flight ban, and see how much they like to take trains and boats everywhere.
@zyxlsy - Stereotypes like claiming 99.9% of Chinese travellers are badly behaved?
Doesn't matter what passport you are using, looking Chinese invites stereotypes. However, I had a very interesting recent experience with a Japanese tour group. I was told how Japanese are well-behave, mannered, blah blah. Well, not this group. Ruder than any Chinese group I've ever encountered. Pushes you without saying a thing, jump in front of you, speak so loud, urgh. Then it's these group of Europeans (I'm sure western Europeans will say they are East Europeans), again, obnoxious, rude, and demeaning. One even tried to push me out of the way to get ahead until I challenged him in English what was that about, and he shrink back. Predicable.