The price of going 'nuts' on Korean Air - video
The former Korean Air executive and daughter of the airline's chairman, sentenced to a year in prison for forcing a plane back to the gate after a row over a bag of nuts, appeals against the ruling.
The price of going nuts
Korean Air-Feb 12th 2015
What is the cost of good service? Heather Cho is probably pondering that as she faces a year behind bars for her extraordinary melt-down over a packet of poorly-presented macadamia nuts last December. Ms Cho, at the time an executive at Korean Air, threw a member of cabin crew off one of the carrier’s flights, which was taxiing onto the runway at New York’s JFK airport, bound for Seoul, after they served her the offending nuts in a paper bag, rather than on a plate. Such was her displeasure, that Ms Cho forced the pilot to turn back to the gate and turf the hapless steward from the plane. This, it was decided, was tantamount to changing a flight’s course, which is a criminal offence.
Ms Cho also happened to be the daughter of the chairman of Korean Air. Hence, the episode, which caused some amusement across the world, garnered little but anger back home. There, it came to encapsulate all that was ill with the country’s nepotistic, chaebolculture, in which, it is commonly believed, the elite consider themselves untouchable.
The judge said that Ms Cho had treated the aircraft as if it were her “own private plane.” Ms Cho did later apologise, though only after the furore took hold. The judge sensed there was little contrition: “I wonder whether she really thinks she was wrong,” he continued as he handed down his verdict. Ms Cho was also found guilty of committing acts of violence against a crew member, forcing him to kneel and hitting him with a service manual. Another executive was also jailed for assisting with a cover up.
