A flight attendant of the China Southern Airlines posted on Sina Corp.’s Weibo microblogging site that she was bullied by a Chinese official and his wife. Xinhua News Agency later identified the Chinese official as Fang Daguo, a member of the Communist Party Standing Committee and political commissar for the Yuexiu Armed Forces Department, after the account of the incident went viral.
The couple, aboard the flight from Hefei to Guanqzhou, allegedly attacked the unidentified flight attendant when she failed to find a space above their seats for their carry-on bags and suggested to store their bags elsewhere. Mr. Fang’s wife lashed out on the flight attendant, reportedly saying, “If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t even have food to eat” and “Aren’t you just a flight attendant? I know your boss!” Witnesses claimed Mr. Fang attacked the flight attendant with his luggage.
According to Xinhua, Mr. Fang smelled “strongly of alcohol”. Yuexiu District Armed Forces Department’s preliminary investigation on the incident claimed that Mr. Fang did not attack the flight attendant, although there was “pushing and shoving”. Mr. Fang apologized to the flight attendant “of his own volition”. Outraged Weibo users decried the incident, with one asking, “An apology and it’s all over?”
