① Glass piece in in-flight coffee
A piece of glass was found in the coffee served as an in-flight meal on a Korean Air flight. On the 1st of the month, a passenger on a Korean Air flight from Guangzhou, China, to Incheon almost swallowed a piece of glass while drinking iced coffee. While drinking the coffee, the passenger felt something foreign in their mouth and spat it out, revealing a piece of glass approximately 0.2 inches long and 0.04 inches thick.
Upon investigation by Korean Air, it was found that the piece of glass in the coffee was due to the in-flight meal supplier failing to detect a defective glass cup during the final inspection before loading. The passenger, who could have swallowed the glass piece in the coffee, vomited all the food they had eaten as per the cabin crew’s instructions.
Fortunately, there were no health issues. The passenger said, “I discovered the piece of glass while sipping the coffee, but if it had been a beverage, I might have swallowed it in a gulp.”
The passenger continued, “I thought I would die while vomiting food in the airplane bathroom. I continued to feel nauseous for two days after returning home.” Korean Air offered the passenger $85 in medical expenses and an electronic preferential discount coupon as compensation for drinking the coffee with the glass piece.
Korean Air emailed the passenger, saying, “We sincerely apologize for the near injury caused by the defective glass cup served on board.” They further stated, “The glass cup provided on board was confirmed to be defective, which was not detected during the final inspection stage before loading by the in-flight meal supplier.”
Korean Air requested the strengthening of inspection procedures to prevent similar incidents from recurring and re-emphasized to the cabin crew to double-check the glass cups visually before service.
② Passenger’s demands to Korean Air
The passenger stated they did not want any compensation or treatment from Korean Air. Their only request was for Korean Air to disclose this incident to the media. However, Korean Air did not accept this request.
The passenger sent a certified letter urging Korean Air’s CEO to take measures to raise awareness. Korean Air explained to the passenger, “We prioritized guiding you to treatment rather than investigating the accident.”
Upon the news being released, netizens showed disappointment in Korean Air’s response. Most reactions were that the compensation amount offered without even monitoring the progress for any possible situations was too small. Netizens commented, “It’s scary that there was a piece of glass in the coffee, which could be fatal due to gastrointestinal bleeding.” They also commented, “They only gave $85 and kept it hush-hush even though the passenger almost died,” and “If they were most concerned about the injury to the swallowed customer, shouldn’t they have had the customer receive an examination at the hospital instead of sending them home?”
③ Airline Controversial case handling
In May, an incident occurred where a passenger’s tooth was damaged while eating an in-flight bibimbap provided on an Asiana Airlines flight returning from Hawaii to Incheon. The passenger posted a story titled ‘Three Teeth Fractured After Eating Asiana In-flight Meal’ on the Naver Cafe ‘Ssasa.’ While eating the bibimbap, the passenger heard a ‘cracking’ sound and spat out what appeared to be a fragment of a coffee cup. Three of the passenger’s teeth were damaged. Two teeth were diagnosed with ‘vertical fractures,’ and another tooth had enamel damage.
The passenger requested Asiana Airlines to compensate for future treatment costs in case of sequelae.
The airline offered to compensate with 5,000 miles and even said they could not provide this compensation if the incident were reported to the media. Asiana Airlines refuted, “We did mention mileage compensation, but we never said there would be no compensation if it were reported to the media.” The passenger’s teeth have not been fully restored, and further damage is possible.
In an interview, Asiana Airlines said, “We plan to compensate for immediate dental treatment fully, but it is difficult to compensate for potential future treatment costs that the customer is demanding, as proving causality is difficult.” They also said they are internally investigating the foreign substance in the in-flight meal. They added that they used in-flight meals produced by an overseas catering company because it was a return flight.
A passenger on a Jeju Air flight posted on an online community, “I was heading to Da Nang, Vietnam on Jeju Air, and the flight attendant spilled ramen soup on me.” While collecting a used ramen container from another passenger, the soup spilled onto the passenger’s pants, soaking their underwear, bag, and clothes. The flight attendant offered a cleaning compensation coupon and said they would provide a certain amount of compensation upon arrival in Korea.
However, the airline’s customer service center said, “Monetary compensation is difficult, but you can receive laundry service at Incheon Airport.” The content changed from what was said at the time of the incident, so the passenger inquired again, and Jeju Air initially offered $8.50 in compensation, then later proposed $17. The passenger, tired and frustrated by the changing information, reluctantly accepted the compensation.
Then Jeju Air requested a handwritten signature on a compensation agreement form, a copy of a bankbook, and an ID. Jeju Air wrote, ‘Clothing dyed due to ramen during in-flight Air Cafe use’ in the compensation agreement. The passenger requested a change in the phrase to ‘Clothing dyed due to flight attendant’s mistake of spilling ramen soup’ but was refused.
Jeju Air stated, “It’s true that a situation as reported on board happened, but we apologized on the spot and provided a coupon worth $8.50 that could be used for laundry service at the airport after returning home or exchanged for cash.” They continued, “The customer demanded $17 for local laundry costs after returning home, and we accepted this. It is not true that we refused or changed our words about monetary compensation.”
By. Han Mia
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