Photos of stewardesses in overhead luggage lockers spark disputes

An undated photo shows an airline stewardess curls into a luggage locker with hands covering her face in an airplane. [Photo: weibo.com]

A recent post from a personal Weibo account, China's twitter-like social platform, revealed that several fresh stewardesses of Kunming Airline were 'stuffed' into an airplane's luggage compartment by the security officers after they finish their flight.

The post said the airline attendants were forced to be carried into the luggage rack by the security officer of the airplane. The practice, which was called a tradition by the officers, has been repeatedly conducted for four or five years. These stewardesses were reluctant to do it but still lifted to the rack due to the concerns of being not cooperative with their colleagues.

Some photos were also posted with the story showing that the stewardesses curling up in the luggage rack with hands covering their faces. A male staff member, who was believed as one of the security officers, was also seen in a photo and even posed with a huddled stewardess.

The post then went viral online and aroused heated dispute among Chinese web users. Some netizens doubted how these security officers were capable of guaranteeing the safety of the passengers onboard as they have dangerous behavior like this.

According to a report from The Beijing News, Kunming Airline has investigated the incident and claimed that it was an individual case.

The Airline also said that these inappropriate traditions happened after the crew members finished their flight missions.

The report quotes sources from the company as saying "this was like a ceremony for the new attendants to join the crew team. It is prevalent among other foreign airline companies. But the company paid high attention to the incident and pledged to prevent this from happening again due to its negative effect to the image of the company. "