Buckle Up, More Turbulence.

"Knowing you have well-trained and competent pilots up front is always reassuring"

Alas, it wasn't a good month for Cathay Pacific. A new controversy landed on the tail of a story alleging pilots taxied slowly in a pay dispute. 

The latest uproar erupted after three flight attendants made derogatory remarks about a mainland Chinese passenger. They'd mocked his English ability when he requested a blanket. A recording went onto mainland social media in no time, where a netizen pile-on soon reached extraordinary heights. 

Even our Chief Executive felt the need to comment that such behaviour was unacceptable and damaging to Hong Kong. He's right, although much more is happening here than meets the eye. 

CX acted with speed, firing the three. Ronald Lam, the head of CX, made repeated apologies as he attempted to dampen a crisis that could harm the business in its biggest market. Previous allegations of mistreatment of mainlanders provoked calls to boycott the airline, which is already struggling after Covid hit hard.  

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the incident generated fervent discussion. Social media memes soon emerged, mocking CX staff. They must be feeling the pressure. The staff union responded, citing low morale, poor pay and overwork as factors, although how these lead to such behaviour is a moot point. 

I've had a few run-ins with CX staff. In a ludicrous episode, a male flight attendant accused my wife of stealing a child meal tray during a flight back from Australia.  

His allegation of theft came in a loud voice that drew the attention of other passengers. I immediately demanded that he search all our bags and the area and retract the allegation. His colleague had provided the meal without a tray due to a mix-up.

Long story short, the purser arrived and escorted us forward, apologising as the hyper-ventilating attendant hid in the rear galley. The poor lad had a bad day. 

But this unfortunate incident didn't deter me from using CX again because they do an excellent job most of the time. Plus, knowing you have well-trained  and competent pilots up front is always reassuring. 

Moreover, it's important to remember that these incidents represent a small fraction of the millions of interactions between airline staff and passengers each year. The vast majority of which are positive and respectful. 

And passengers can be overly demanding and aggressive, making life difficult for flight attendants, as seen in increasing air rage incidents. In a 2021 study drawing on international data, unsurprisingly, alcohol was a factor in most incidents. At the same time, American and British passengers accounted for 46% of reported unruly passenger incidents in 2020. A list of air rage and unruly behaviour incidents is here. 

In this current incident, it might help to recognise something else is taking place because, on the surface, it looks like a straightforward lack of professionalism. 

Putting on my lay social anthropologist hat and peeling back the layers prompts the question, should this event be seen in the context of an unpleasant undercurrent of prejudice against mainlanders that still inhabits a fair part of Hong Kong society? 

These sentiments festered for years, playing a role in the 2019 civil unrest, with the firebombing of mainland businesses and beating of anyone the rioters heard speaking putonghua.

In 2019, protests erupted in Hong Kong over a controversial extradition bill that would have allowed the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China, Taiwan and Macau. The protests soon escalated into broader civil unrest with a sectarian element. While many in the West sought to frame the riots around "democracy" only, they dodged this driving element shaped by prejudice. 

The roots of this discrimination are deep, going back to when Hong Kong people saw themselves far superior to their northern cousins. For example, a popular TV show in the 1970s depicted "Ah Chan", a mainlander struggling to find his way in Hong Kong. Similarly, many local comedy movies drew their laughs from framing mainlanders as ignorant of the modern world.

Then, over time, as China boomed while Hong Kong slipped by comparison, these sentiments hardened into outright bigotry shaped partly by resentment. While not universal, this attitude is baffling because most Hong Kong people can trace their roots to the mainland.

Another aspect is that some CX staff played a prominent role in the civil unrest, including the illegal occupation of the airport. That led to the firing of at least twenty-six CX staff including several pilots.

Cathay Chairman John Slosar said in a statement in August 2019, that events had called into question the airline's commitment to flight safety and security and put its reputation and brand under pressure.  

Whether the latest incident is motivated by bias, I can't say. Maybe it's just banter. Yet against the backdrop of events discussed above, it takes on a broader significance, with many mainland Chinese viewing it as another example of prejudice against them.
 
Still, it is essential to recognise that both communities are part of the same country and share a common destiny. That's worth remembering.