Chinese passenger may sue Virgin Atlantic

A Virgin Atlantic passenger plane flies in the sky with the moon seen in the background in London, Britain, Jan 19, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

The Chinese passenger who was allegedly verbal-assaulted and threatened on board a Virgin Atlantic flight said on Wednesday she has sought legal advice from a British law firm and will not rule out the possibility of escalating the case to court.

The victim, Li Wei, said British law firm, Jackson Ng of Chan Neill Solicitors, is now in contact with the airline on whether or not the incident consisted of legal liability and negligence of duty.

As of to date, Virgin Atlantic has not issued any formal apology to the passenger.

Below is the statement released by Passenger Li Wei:

The last few days have been very difficult for me, especially since the flight where I was humiliated, abused, and had to sit through the entire flight in fear.

As I previously stated, I did not expect to have been treated the way by representatives of Virgin Atlantic after a humiliating racial discrimination and abuse incident by a fellow passenger. Regardless of the fellow passenger's state of health, I expected much more from Virgin Atlantic in dealing with such incidents, especially before the plane had taken off.

As such, I have consulted British lawyers and as of this morning, instructed a firm of lawyers to communicate with Virgin Atlantic on the issue of the failings of their legal responsibilities to me.

As this matter could potentially end up in a Court of Law, it would be prudent for me not to make any further comments publicly and I would respectfully ask that all media enquiries be directed to my lawyer, Jackson Ng of Chan Neill Solicitors in London, United Kingdom.

I have always been proud to be Chinese and glad to see that many people are shocked that something of this nature could happen. Therefore, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have given me support and for publicising this matter."

The incident took place on March 1, 2016, when Li Wei was verbally abused by a Caucasian male passenger and later one of the flight attendants on a London flight en route to Shanghai. According to Li, a Caucasian male began hurling racial epithets such as "f*cking Chinese pig", "get the f—k out of here" at her and swearing without any provocation. The incident went from bad to worse when a flight attendant approached the victim threatening to have her taken away from the plane if she did not stop quarreling.