Shopping stewardess at fault for misbehavior

On Feb 21, a passenger complained on Sina micro blog that an Air China stewardess did not appear at the boarding gate of her flight from Seoul to Chongqing until five minutes after the boarding time, with large quantities of purchased goods in both hands; the incident delayed boarding, he said. Air China apologized at first, then insisted that the flight took off and landed on time. Comments:

Even if the flight took off on time, a stewardess arriving late because she was shopping is a scandal that will anger passengers. Worse, Air China took a bad move by purging itself of responsibility with an excuse instead of admitting the wrong. In order to prevent the bad publicity from hurting its reputation, Air China should investigate the incident and improve disciplinary supervision to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Beijing Times, Feb 24

If the online discussions over the incident were conducted in a friendly manner, that might encourage more passengers to watch airline staff carefully and the airlines to better regulate their staff. Sadly that's not the case and the discussions have become quarrels and mutual attacks.

Civil Aviation Resource Net of China, Feb 24

Many people have commented online that arriving late is not that big a deal. But a stewardess is part of the flight crew, and her late arrival might force the flight to take off later than planned; the airport might even have to rearrange flight schedule as a result. This not only brings inconvenience, but also threatens security to the passengers and the whole flight crew.

cnhubei.com, Feb 23

Some blame the complainer for "damaging the reputation of stewardesses". But it is the stewardess in the incident who has damaged the reputation of our profession and she should pay for her misbehavior. Those defending her wrong deeds will further damage public confidence in the profession.

Aviation Knowledge We-media, quoting an anonymous stewardess, via Sina micro blog, Feb 24