Korean Air CEO's daughter Cho Hyun-Ah goes nuts over nuts

[whatmeworry]

Quite an unbelievable story. I don't know if this exec is a perfectionist or nut job? Pardon the pun.

The daughter of the CEO of Korean Air forced the chief flight attendant off a plane bound for Seoul from New York after she was incorrectly served some nuts - delaying the flight and triggering a government probe, officials say.
Cho Hyun-Ah, who is an executive vice-president of the family-run flag carrier, insisted that the chief flight attendant leave the plane just minutes before take-off on Friday, Korean Air said.
Ms Cho, also known by her English name Heather, had taken exception to the arrival of some macadamia nuts she had not asked for, and to the fact that they were served in a packet rather than a bowl.

Korean Air CEO's daughter Cho Hyun-Ah goes nuts over nuts: flight delayed after macadamia brouhaha

 

[boomy]

And I thought she was allergic to nuts.
Seems like she is just one crazy lady...

 

[TomVexille]

My first question was the pax to crew ratio still legal since they were down a crew member?

 

[turtlemichael]

If this policy applied to every service breach on some airlines, they would never take off. Seriously? I think she needs some behaviour management counselling.

 

[under the radar]

good to know the DYKWIA 'phenomenon' is worldwide

 

[mannej]

Sounds as if she was off her nut...

 

[juddles]

Just to play Devil´s Advocate, maybe she had some point.

She is (was) responsible for inflight service in Korean Air, and she suffered a clear breach of service protocol, and then when she chastised them she got a poor response from those that were failing to do their job.

The delay she caused was not reasonable, but maybe if a few more airline executives got on planes and tested the service, some improvements could occur in some airlines.

 

[samh004]

Just to play Devil´s Advocate, maybe she had some point.

She is (was) responsible for inflight service in Korean Air, and she suffered a clear breach of service protocol, and then when she chastised them she got a poor response from those that were failing to do their job.

The delay she caused was not reasonable, but maybe if a few more airline executives got on planes and tested the service, some improvements could occur in some airlines.

You have a good point, but I think she came to entirely the wrong conclusions.

A Korean Air spokesman said Ms Cho had taken the position that the head flight attendant was incapable of ensuring the safety of the 250 passengers on the 13-hour flight to Seoul.

The fact the pilot agreed is probably more so that he didn't want to face action when he got home either.

 

[grapefruitmoon]

Although the airline told Bloomberg Businessweek that the procedure to deplane the crew member took no more than 2 minutes, the Journal reports that takeoff for Seoul-bound flight was delayed by roughly 20 minutes.
Korean media is reporting that the country's transport ministry is investigating whether Cho violated any Korean aviation regulations. According to Marketwatch, Korean aviation regulations state that an aircraft preparing for takeoff should only return to the gate if the pilots determine that there's an emergency that would threaten the well being of the plane and its passengers. Violators could be subject to 10 years of jail time!

Read more: Korean Air Executive Boots Flight Attendant For Serving Macadamia Nuts - Business Insider


Well, I guess.

 

[medhead]

As an executive of the airline and daughter of the chairman. TSKWSI!

Without being privy to the conversation between her and the crew manager, I'm not prepared to say she came to the wrong conclusion. Even if it is highly likely the safety risk thing is just about avoiding 10 years behind bars.

 

[casanovawa]

I think all the KE crews will be a little more on focused on the rules and regs after this, but yes this clown deserves to get kicked out of the place and if she gets a year or two on some minimum security country retreat maybe it will make some of these up themselves execs think twice about their own self importance...

 

[medhead]

I think all the KE crews will be a little more on focused on the rules and regs after this, but yes this clown deserves to get kicked out of the place and if she gets a year or two on some minimum security country retreat maybe it will make some of these up themselves execs think twice about their own self importance...

Seriously? The executive responsible for in flight service standards is self important for doing their job?

When I stop people and correct their actions in my area of responsibility am I also up myself with self importance?

 

[casanovawa]

Yes, turning a plane around at JFK and marching an FA or head FA off is an over reaction in anyone's books....

I don't care where you come from, not serving nuts the right way does not put the plane in danger and from what I have heard of operations at JFK and losing your place it could've ended up in a much bigger delay than even the 20 mins, the 2 mins delay KE reckon is just a blatant lie!

Would be quite happy for JFK airport authorities and local Korean authorities to take action against the airline...

A major part of being an exec is showing discernment and common sense about how to handle an issue, of which I think she showed none in this instance and has brought more negative press on the airline than her silly crusade about hot nuts... The fact it sniffs of blatant nepotism as well is just another potential black eye for the organisation....

 

[medhead]

Yes, turning a plane around at JFK and marching an FA or head FA off is an over reaction in anyone's books....

I don't care where you come from, not serving nuts the right way does not put the plane in danger and from what I have heard of operations at JFK and losing your place it could've ended up in a much bigger delay than even the 20 mins, the 2 mins delay KE reckon is just a blatant lie!

Would be quite happy for JFK airport authorities and local Korean authorities to take action against the airline...

A major part of being an exec is showing discernment and common sense about how to handle an issue, of which I think she showed none in this instance and has brought more negative press on the airline than her silly crusade about hot nuts... The fact it sniffs of blatant nepotism as well is just another potential black eye for the organisation....

Now if you said over reaction to start things might be different. I don't think someone doing their job can be considered self important or up them self. This [-]is[/-] was (for drron's benefit) the executive responsible for crew service standards on the airline. It [-]is[/-] was their job to worry about service of nuts

As for turning around the plane, unless you were privy to the conversation between the Korean airline executive and the Korean airline crew manager on the Korean airline aircraft I'm not sure the basis on which you can state there was no subsequent safety issue. You simply have no idea about what actually caused the aircraft to turn around. It has been reported as a safety issue. The truth may come out, but until then all I see is a lack of information to draw conclusions about.

Edit: I read this on the SMH website at 8:30 this morning and all the details slowly coming out were in that story. 11 minutes late arriving, she resigned, still a VP, chairman's daughter. I was going to posted it but realised it was just a media click bait beat up story. Guess that's supported by all the media outlets now picking it up.

 

[drron]

Well she is no longer in charge of in flight service but still a vice President of the airline-
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/w...r-halting-flight-over-snack-service.html?_r=0

 

[juddles]

...not serving nuts the right way does not put the plane in danger.......

Casanova, (still play Devils Advocate), your words, reducing the situation to such a simple concept, is IMHO just following the media beatup strategy. Of course the nuts/danger scenario is ridiculous. and so if you actually BELIEVE that she thought that, it is unfathomable.

Rather than follow the simplistic outrage about DYKWIA´s and ¨up themseleves¨ execs, maybe give a bit of consideration for what apparently Started this event: a steward couldnt even get it right serving a simple snack to a true VIP of the airline!! They couldnt follow a basic procedure for the boss!!

Maybe when she confronted the CSM he was drunk? (everyone loves to add assumptions and facts not included in media beatups). That would explain why she immediately asked the captain to get him off the flight, and the captain agreed. Maybe she was doing her job not revealing the CSM´s drunkeness as it really would harm the airline´s image? That explains why it WAS a situation of danger to pax.

Just thinking....

 

[RooFlyer]

If the nutty incident occurred after takeoff, say an hour into the flight, presumably the same 'safety' inspired conversation would have taken place and the plane would have turned around, landed and the FA marched off. In that case maybe there would have been a hint of self importance.

That would have been an interesting conversation afterwards!

Thank goodness it wasn't about PJ size availability in the air. The safety implications are horrifying.

 

[basso]

Now if you said over reaction to start things might be different. I don't think someone doing their job can be considered self important or up them self. This [-]is[/-] was (for drron's benefit) the executive responsible for crew service standards on the airline. It [-]is[/-] was their job to worry about service of nuts

Let us consider what has been reported in a few places as the cabin crew side of the story - that the nuts were actually served by the book (show the passenger the packet, and if they want them, go to the galley, etc), and the purser was defending the more junior cabin crew. The manuals were pulled out to convince the passenger. The 'crime' of the purser was to stand up for the junior member, and contradict the passenger in public - at that point it wasn;t about the nuts.

 

[medhead]

Let us consider what has been reported in a few places as the cabin crew side of the story - that the nuts were actually served by the book (show the passenger the packet, and if they want them, go to the galley, etc), and the purser was defending the more junior cabin crew. The manuals were pulled out to convince the passenger. The 'crime' of the purser was to stand up for the junior member, and contradict the passenger in public - at that point it wasn;t about the nuts.

Reported when and where?

 

[drron]

A fair bit about her family here-
The entitled family dynasty behind Korean Air nut rage | Stuff.co.nz