China Eastern reports passenger to police over cabin crew kneeling row

China Eastern Airlines has reported a male passenger to the police for allegedly disturbing order, after a flight attendant was filmed kneeling in a cabin aisle to apologise for bumping his elbow with a service trolley.

In its second statement on the incident, the carrier said on Saturday that it believed the actions of the passenger amounted to disturbing order aboard a civil aircraft and had severely infringed upon the employee’s personal dignity.

The airline added that it had banned the individual from flying with them.

Footage of the incident aboard a flight from Hefei in Anhui province to Dalian in Liaoning province started circulating online on Monday.

According to the airline, the cabin crew member accidentally bumped the sleeping passenger’s elbow with a trolley during the drinks service. She apologised immediately and repeatedly, but to no avail.

“The passenger became agitated, using vulgar and offensive language, and threatened to kick the flight attendant, demanding that the flight attendant accompany him to the hospital after landing,” China Eastern said on Wednesday in its first statement on the incident.

Chinese media reports citing the original uploader of the clip said that the passenger refused to accept the flight attendant’s apologies, prompting her to kneel repeatedly to beg for forgiveness.

China Eastern also said that the attendant had repeatedly reminded passengers to mind the meal trolley. It did not say why she knelt.

The flight attendant was offered immediate care and support and has since returned to duty as normal, according to Wednesday’s statement.

The airline added that medical personnel examined the passenger upon landing and confirmed the bump did not result in any serious injury requiring further treatment.

“The company has formally reported the aforementioned infringement and disturbance to the public security authorities,” China Eastern said on Saturday.

The footage – filmed by a fellow passenger – has ignited debate over the pressure on cabin crew from complaint-driven evaluation systems, which can play a big role in staff appraisals.

According to the official Beijing Daily, passenger complaints are directly tied to the performance evaluation and career advancement opportunities for cabin crew.

“It’s not just about losing money for a single complaint – it impacts the flight attendant’s overall annual performance rating, which factors in both bonus points for commendation letters and deductions for complaints,” the newspaper quoted a veteran flight attendant as saying.

Reducing complaint rates is an equally critical operational metric for airlines.

Globally, rating agencies such as Skytrax also factor passenger complaint volume into their airline evaluation criteria.

Beijing Daily quoted another aviation insider as saying that an airline’s complaint volume could directly affect its ability to secure flight rights and landing slots.

Shanghai-based China Eastern is one of the country’s three major state-owned carriers, operating an extensive domestic and international network.

Addressing the controversy on Friday, Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said the passenger’s “relentless” demands despite the flight attendant’s apologies went far beyond legitimate rights protection, violating her personal dignity and crossing legal bottom lines.

Under China’s civil aviation laws, verbal abuse or assault of crew members, as well as “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” aboard civil aircraft, are strictly prohibited.

“No professional in any line of work should be subjected to such malice on the job,” the newspaper said in a commentary.

It added that when facing aggressive behaviour, airlines must intervene, secure evidence and hand over offenders to police upon landing.

“Unconditionally backing down just for ‘customer satisfaction’ to keep the peace will only encourage unreasonable passengers to push their luck, leaving frontline employees stripped of their sense of professional security,” the commentary said.