Nuts on plane: Korean Airlines boss causes flight delay

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zwiebel

zwiebel

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Heather Cho, the 40-year-old daughter of the chairman of Korean Air Lines, caused her entire flight to be delayed at JFK because she didn't like the way her macadamia nuts were served in a bag. Cho, who was head of in-flight service at the airline, subjected the cabin crew chief to an interrogation on the in-flight service manual, and when she wasn't happy with his answers, made the plane turn back to the gate so he could be expelled. The flight then missed its slot, causing every single passenger to be late to their destination.

Today, Korean Air issued an apology on Cho's behalf for the 'uproar' created and announced she was stepping down as head of in-flight service. Luckily for her, she'll still get to see her dad the chairman frequently - she's kept her position as vice president at Korean Air Lines. South Korea's transport ministery has said it's investigating.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article...aign=Feed:+entrepreneur/latest+(Entrepreneur)
 
This story is still growing. Despite an abject public apology and resigning from all her posts, prosecutors now expect to arrest Cho next week, for in-flight violence and changing a flight route.

The attendant she's said to have made kneel, jabbed with a manual, thrown off the plane and sacked, for serving her nuts wrong, has been reinstated.

The transport ministry is taking action against the airline, an official from the ministry's been arrested for leaking info, and a Korean Air official is alleged to have tried to get witnesses to change their evidence. Oh, and macadamia nut sales have gone through the roof in South Korea.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30595519
 

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Cho Hyun-ah is on trial (verdict expected by the end of the month) and prosecutors are asking for a three-year jail term. She has admitted pushing the shoulder and throwing something at one female attendant, and the chief steward who had the audacity to serve her nuts in a bag has told the court how they were treated like 'feudal slaves'. Her defence is 'devotion to work'.

On BBC radio yesterday I heard how he described his hands being repeatedly struck with a laptop.

Prosecutors are also seeking jail terms for the Korean Air exec who tried to hush things up, and a transport official who leaked the story. I think the transport official is a whistleblower and should be rewarded, not punished, myself.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/south-korean-nut-rage-trial-cho-hyun-ah
 
Thanks for starting this thread Zwiebel.....I've been following this story for a while now. This woman is a real piece of work!
 
The steward, or purser, in the case had just returned to work after 50 days sick leave but is now taking another fortnight off, until Feb 19th. Interestingly, the article says:

'There is suspicion that Park is taking another leave because his flight schedule has been intentionally filled to bursting by the carrier in retaliation for his frank remarks to the press and during Cho's trial.

But Korean Air denies this, saying that the schedules of over 6,000 flight attendants are automatically set up by a computer program so that they can work the same hours

Park was supposed to fly 79 hours in February, roughly the same as other pursers and less than the 85 hours he flew on monthly average last year, it said.'

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2015/02/09/2015020901199.html
 

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Sounds like Cho irritated the judge at her trial too - he made a biting remark about her feeling she shouldn't be on trial at all. She is due for sentencing in 2 days' time, Feb 12th.

I hope she doesn't get the maximum three year sentence really - it was arrogant bullying, but I feel sorry for her babies. She has twins under two. But Cho doesn't seem to have helped her case by lecturing the court about 'proper airline procedure' re macadamia nuts. Sigh.

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2015/02/04/2015020402091.html
 
Sentenced to one year.

'A former Korean Air vice president who ordered a plane back to its gate in a fit of anger over how she had been served macadamia nuts was convicted Thursday of violating aviation law and sentenced to one year in prison...'

'A dozen or so family-controlled conglomerates, known as chaebol, dominate the South Korean economy, and the families that run them have developed a reputation for running their companies like dictators and maintaining collusive ties with regulators. Over the decades, many of their chairmen have been convicted of crimes like bribery or tax evasion, only to return to run their conglomerates.'...

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/1...icted-in-nut-rage-episode.html?_r=0&referrer=
 
Nut rage comes to New York....

A flight attendant at the centre of a "nut rage" case has filed a civil lawsuit in New York against the daughter of the Korean Air Lines chairman sentenced to jail over the incident, lawyers say.

Heather Cho, the airline's former head of in-flight service, was sentenced to a year in jail last month after she was found guilty of violating aviation law over an on-board incident at New York's John F Kennedy airport on December 5.
Click to expand...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-11/korean-air-flight-attendant-in-nut-rage-case-sues/6304978
 
Seoul court frees Korean Air heiress jailed for disrupting New York flight in 'nut rage' case

Cho Hyun-ah has had her one year prison term suspended by a South Korean court

The former Korean Air executive gained international notoriety after her onboard 'nut rage' delayed a flight departing from New York last December

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-York-flight-nut-rage-case.html#ixzz3aqbX0vEF
 
Cho's lawyers refused to comment on if she intends to appeal her original conviction. Her lack of criminal history and being the mother of twins was taken into account in releasing her.

The New York civil suit against her filed by the flight attendant against her is still pending, apparently.

http://news.sky.com/story/1488826/korean-nut-rage-air-exec-freed-from-jail
 

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