Virgin Airlines has launched an investigation into claims that a Chinese passenger was racially abused and sworn at by another traveller on a flight from London to Shanghai and that flight crew did nothing to help her.
Writing on Airlines Stories, a public forum on the Chinese social network WeChat, the woman said she had just boarded the March 1st flight when a large white middle-aged Caucasian man sitting two rows behind her pointed and said: “You f*****g Chinese pig. Get the f**k out of here.”
The passenger wrote that the flight attendants initially did nothing, then threatened to throw her off the aircraft after she defended herself, saying: “What did you say?”
“After he insulted me, the flight attendants instead threatened to throw me off the plane? Why should I have to get off the plane? I demanded that he apologise to me,” she writes.
The “Global Times” quoted an anonymous Chinese flight attendant saying one of her colleagues told the crew to ignore the incident or they would remove the Chinese passenger from the flight.
The passenger also said the crew had told her the male passenger had mental health problems, but did not move him away from the other passengers and she had to sit through the flight afraid to sleep because of the allegedly abusive passenger behind her.
Her posting has prompted thousands of responses, keen for justice for the woman. Chinese tourists have developed a somewhat unsavoury reputation for bad behaviour and webizens are keen to point out that it is not just Chinese tourists who behave badly overseas.
The Chinese passenger said she had received an email from Virgin on March 12, after more than 10 days of complaining, which she then posted online.
“We do take situations like this most seriously and I’m very grateful to you for letting us know what happened. This really does sound like an incredibly situation for you,” the email said. It also said the airline could not disclose any medical conditions the passenger may have had.
However, the passenger said it was more like a pro forma message than a real apology.
A Virgin spokesman told the “Global Times” the company’s executives are taking the report seriously and have organised a special investigation team. The spokesman added the company has contacted the Chinese passenger involved.
On his Twitter feed, Virgin chief Richard Branson wrote: "Really sorry to hear about an alleged incident on flight VS250. We do not tolerate abuse and @virginatlantic are investigating." The tweet also went out in Chinese.
