Hanjin Owner's Daughter Belittled The Chief Steward On A KAL Flight

The daughter of the owner of Korean Airline, who also held positions of authority with the airline, was reportedly upset that she had been served nuts in a bag rather than on a plate while the KAL flight was taxiing for takeoff from New York to Inchon, South Korea. So upset, in fact, that she ordered the leader of the cabin crew to kneel at her feet and apologize for the affront. She then loudly demanded that the plane return to the gate and the head steward be removed from the flight.

Her demand was granted.

The BBC reports that head steward Park Chang-jin told South Korea's KBS television network that the airline initially tried to get him to change his story and defended the actions of Heather Cho, the daughter of Cho Yang-ho, saying as a vice president of the airline, she was responsible for customer service on the airline's flights.

But Business Insider reports that Cho Yang-ho, the owner of the Hanjin Group which owns the airline, publicly apologized to the steward on Friday, and removed his daughter from her executive positions with the company. "I apologize to the people of [South Korea] as chairman of Korean Air and as a father for the trouble caused by my daughter's foolish conduct," the tycoon said, according to Reuters.

Cho added that the blame was really his. "I failed to raise her properly," he said to reporters.

(Korean Airline aircraft pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.hanjin.com