Couple Banned From Cathay Pacific After Viral Reclined Seat Scuffle

A couple aboard a Cathay Pacific flight showed aggressive behavior towards a woman seated in front of them. After the news got to higher-ups, the couple could no longer fly with the airline.

Trouble Over TV Time

On September 17, 2024, a female passenger and Chinese native Jin Yuelin boarded a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong on its way to London, England. Yuelin shared footage of what transpired on the flight on the social media platform Xiaohongshu, though other users have also uploaded a media interview with her along with the plane footage to Facebook as well as YouTube.

In the video, she explains that she was minding her own business and decided to recline her seat on the flight. This reportedly upset a middle-aged couple sitting behind her, as they weren't able to see the TV on the back of Yuelin's seat. The couple asked the woman to put her seat back up, but she refused.

The couple then proceeded to kick and shake her seat and heckle her. The woman also put her feet on Yuelin's armrests and kicked her in the arms. The couple spoke to her in Cantonese, which Yuelin wasn't able to understand that well. The couple later realized Yuelin wasn't from Hong Kong, but rather from mainland China, which escalated the altercation by calling her "mainland girl" and "other derogatory stuff" according to Yuelin in the video.
 

Cathay Pacific flight attendants did not do much to help Yuelin, as they first claimed they weren't able to relocate her since the flight was fully booked. After the couple ignored warnings from attendants, the attendants then suggested to Yuelin to put her seat back up.

"Don’t big airlines know how to deal with this kind of dispute? Shouldn’t such behavior of discriminating against mainland China be punished?... I felt my personal space had been completely violated,” said Yuelin. However, other passengers on the flight chimed in in defense of Yuelin. They told the couple "You're bullying a little girl! Is that right?" and "You're embarrassing us Hongkongers". 

"When the first person spoke up, tears welled up in my eyes. I felt a deep sense of injustice, but also a relief that someone understood and spoke up for me, including a lot of Hongkongers who helped me. I see this as an isolated incident and do not want it to affect the unity between the two places.” added Yuelin. After the ordeal had gone on long enough, the crew decided to place Yuelin in a Premium Economy seat for the remainder of the flight. 

Cathay Pacific Speaks Out

Cathay Pacific stated DailyMail after the flight, stating that they formally apologized to Yuelin and stated that the couple is no longer welcome on Cathay Pacific flights in the future:

"Cathay Pacific is aware of the incident involving a customer who was verbally harassed by two other disruptive customers onboard flight CX253 on 17 September 2024. The safety and well-being of our customers and crew are our highest priorities. We maintain a strict zero-tolerance policy towards any behavior that compromises aviation safety or disrespects fellow customers. Our investigation into the incident found that during the flight, the aforementioned customers engaged in a dispute over seat reclining, which resulted in the two disruptive customers verbally 

harassing the customer in the row in front of them. 

Despite several mediation attempts by our cabin crew, the two individuals' disruptive behavior continued. To address the situation, the affected customer was moved to a seat in the Premium Economy cabin due to there being no other available seats in the Economy cabin. Our Inflight Service Manager then issued two serious verbal warnings to the disruptive individuals involved. 

Under our General Conditions of Carriage for Passengers and Baggage, they will be refused carriage on any Cathay Group flights in the future. Cathay Pacific is committed to ensuring a safe and pleasant experience for all customers. We extend our sincerest apologies to those affected by this incident."