Abstract:
Recently, topics related to the "China Eastern Airlines stewardess kneeling incident" have been on the hot search for many times. China Eastern Airlines issued the latest notice that the passenger involved was suspected of disrupting order on a civil aircraft and has officially reported the case to the public security agency and suspended transportation services to the passenger involved.
According to the video posted online, on the flight involved, a flight attendant was kneeling on his knees next to the dining car in the cabin aisle, and the passengers beside him were emotional. An eyewitness said about the incident: "The flight attendant was pushing a trolley to distribute drinks to passengers. He accidentally touched the passenger's elbow. The flight attendant apologized to him, and he became unforgiving and yelled, saying that you can kick me. The flight attendant shed tears of grievance, and finally knelt down to apologize to him."
Many netizens commented affirmatively on China Eastern Airlines' handling of the matter, saying, "Well done, we must pay the due price for illegal behavior." "Gone are the days of distribution according to trouble (referring to the unhealthy phenomenon of not relying on rules when encountering disputes, but relying on making noise and applying pressure to solve problems)."
Today, an online poll on "aircraft troubles" showed that more than 60% of netizens regarded "increasing punishment for insults and threats to crew members" as the most effective way to reduce such incidents. This was closely followed by “strengthening civil aviation passenger law education and clarifying red lines for cabin behavior” and “strengthening safety officers’ on-site intervention capabilities to promptly prevent the escalation of conflicts,” both accounting for approximately 20% of the votes.
"Dignity cannot be compromised indefinitely"
On the evening of September 28, a cabin service dispute occurred during the flight of China Eastern Airlines flight MU6741 from Hefei to Dalian. According to a video posted online, a flight attendant was kneeling on his knees next to the dining car in the cabin aisle, and the passengers beside him were emotional.
An eyewitness posted on a social platform about the incident: "The flight attendant was pushing a trolley to distribute drinks to passengers, and he accidentally touched the passenger's elbow. There was actually no problem. The flight attendant apologized to him, and he became unforgiving and said, "You said... I apologized too late and yelled at the flight attendant. No matter what, the passenger was not satisfied and said, "You can give me a kick." The flight attendant shed tears of grievance and finally knelt down to apologize and beg him to give her a kick."
On September 30, China Eastern Airlines officially issued its first situation report: After verification, flight attendants reminded passengers throughout the process of pushing the dining cart to provide beverage service. Because a passenger was sleeping, the dining cart accidentally came into contact with his elbow. The flight attendant immediately apologized repeatedly and checked on the passenger's condition. The passenger was agitated and continued to use vulgar and aggressive language. He threatened and kicked the flight attendant, and asked the flight attendant to accompany him for medical treatment after landing. The flight attendant was frightened.
As public opinion continued to ferment, on October 3, China Eastern Airlines issued another notification to release a clearer attitude. The report stated that based on the preliminary review, the company has basically completed the evidence fixation, fact verification and legal assessment, and believes that the passenger Ou was suspected of disrupting the order inside the civil aircraft and seriously infringing on the personal dignity and rights of employees. The company has officially reported the case to the public security organs and suspended providing transportation services to Ou in accordance with the passenger transportation management system.
Many netizens commented affirmatively on China Eastern Airlines’ handling and said, “Well done.” Some netizens said, “I support China Eastern Airlines. In this situation, we must stand on the side of our employees and be a strong backing. Don’t make peace, don’t make peace with others, and make the perpetrators pay the price. This is obviously because I am used to bossing around, and I think I am the boss everywhere.”
"Gone are the days of assigning people according to the situation." Some netizens said: "China Eastern Airlines chose to call the police and suspend the carriage of the passenger this time, which is a very iconic correction. The service must be good, but dignity cannot be compromised indefinitely. Consumer disputes
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Negotiation is possible, but humiliation and threats cannot be exempted. ”Lawyer Han Bin from the Bank of China (Guangzhou) Law Firm in Beijing told the "BUG" column that according to Article 26 of the "Public Security Management Punishment Law", the passengers involved may face a warning or a fine of less than 500 yuan; if the circumstances are deemed to be "serious", they may face detention of not less than five days but not more than 10 days, and may be fined not more than 1,000 yuan.
Han Bin analyzed that the passengers involved may also have been involved in "blatantly insulting others", which may also be taken into consideration when punishing them. Behaviors such as excessively excited words, prolonged behavior, or serious disruption of public order and safety may be deemed by the public security organs as "serious circumstances" and trigger detention penalties.
Wang Longguo, a partner at Shanghai Shen Yihe Law Firm, said that the passengers involved may also face civil aviation penalties and be included in the civil aviation "blacklist." According to the provisions of Article 252 of the Civil Aviation Law, if a person commits an act that impedes the safety and order of civil aviation transportation, and the circumstances are serious, the civil aviation authority under the State Council may restrict the person from taking civil aircraft within a certain period of time.
Insiders explain "Why flight attendants kneel"
China Eastern Airlines’ notice also showed that the company had “provided care, condolences, psychological counseling and legal assistance” to the flight attendant involved. Wang Longguo said that from the perspective of civil torts, the flight attendant can sue the passengers involved individually for infringement of personality rights and claim compensation for mental damages.
Wang Longguo said, "The passenger involved continued to use vulgar and extreme words and threatened the flight attendant on the flight, which is a serious violation of the flight attendant's personal dignity. As a direct victim, the flight attendant has the right to request the passenger involved to bear civil responsibilities such as ceasing the infringement, eliminating the impact, and making an apology in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code. The flight attendant was seriously frightened by insults, threats, kneeling, etc. If mental damage occurs, the flight attendant can also claim compensation for mental damage in accordance with the law."
When talking about why flight attendants prefer to kneel down to try to calm conflicts in the cabin, an airline insider revealed that airlines generally have hard and fast rules that flight attendants cannot have disputes with passengers, and no matter how wronged they are, they must resolve them on the spot. Once a valid complaint is made, the performance, evaluation, and promotion of flight attendants will be affected, and even the schedule will be adjusted.
"For example, in this incident, the source of the incident was that the dining car bumped into a passenger. There was indeed a collision first. Even if the other party obviously took advantage of the problem, as long as the passenger insisted on making a complaint, it would be very troublesome for the company to make a determination, and the flight attendants would naturally be in a passive position." The person said.
In 2024, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening and Improving Cabin Safety Management in the New Era", requiring all transportation airlines to "adhere to a realistic, objective and fair attitude, properly screen and handle" various cabin service complaints, and improve the complaint mechanism for those complained based on the principle of "whoever claims, who provides evidence" to reduce the negative impact of invalid or malicious complaints on the normal performance of crew members' duties.
However, there may still be a gap between improvement initiatives at the institutional level and actual implementation by airlines. At present, the recovery process of the domestic civil aviation industry is still slow. Combined with multiple factors such as fuel price fluctuations, intensified market competition, rising labor and operation and maintenance costs, leading airlines are generally facing losses, and operating pressure continues to rise. Against this background, airlines’ pursuit of service quality and passenger satisfaction has become more rigid.
The public outcry over the incident of a China Eastern Airlines flight attendant kneeling has once again focused the public's attention on the "aircraft trouble" chaos in civil aviation. In fact, at the level of "aircraft trouble" governance, legal methods have continued to increase in recent years: starting from July 2023, the civil aviation public security organs have launched a special operation to rectify "aircraft trouble". Data show that as of April 2024, civil aviation public security agencies across the country have cracked down on 669 "aircraft disturbance" incidents, taken criminal coercive measures on 6 people, and detained 311 people administratively. The proportion of disruptors per million passengers has dropped by 13.2% compared with before the special operation. By 2025, the national civil aviation police will handle 1,081 on-board incidents in accordance with the law, a year-on-year decrease of 6.5%, and the crime rate per 10,000 flights will decrease by 17% year-on-year.
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