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On December 5, Heather Cho, head of in-flight service at Korean Air Lines, was a passenger on Flight 86 from New York to Seoul. As the plane was sitting on the runway, ready for takeoff, an attendant served Cho a bag of macadamia nuts without asking. Cho was infuriated. She “screamed and scolded” the attendant, then ordered the pilot to return back to the gate, where the head of the service crew was kicked off the plane.
It turned out to be a mistake for Cho (whose father is chairman of Korean Air Lines). Yesterday, Cho was arrested on a charge of obstructing aviation safety.
Cho, who was a passenger in first class, resigned from all of her positions at Korean Air and other affiliates during the public backlash. Her father apologized to the public.
Emily Cho, her sister, also apologized for a text message sent to her sibling promising to “take revenge” on her behalf, Yonhap News reported today.
“I am very sorry beyond words for the content of that text message, which was reported in the newspapers,” Emily Cho, an executive at Korean Air, said in a posting on Twitter today.