Chinese news reports have been rife with recent stories of passengers behaving poorly and causing disturbances on Chinese airlines. The incidents have led to the creation of a tourist blacklist by Chinese authorities, who also don’t appear to be in a laughing mood when it comes to a hazing ritual involving flight attendants.
The WeChat account for a tabloid representing the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority published a number of photos recently that showed flight attendants at Kunming Airlines lying inside overhead luggage containers. According to the report, the women were all put there against their will.
Apparently a hazing ritual for new flight attendants, the report says this has been an industry tradition for four to five years. Kunming Airlines said it would not investigate the matter when they first heard about it.
The report also claims that many flight crew members wanted to complain about the hazing, but didn’t. It’s not known how long these women are trapped inside these luggage compartments, and their faces have been obscured.
The Chinese Civil Aviation Authority called the behavior “unsafe” and “irresponsible”.
On the other hand, netizen reaction to this story hasn’t been met with cries of outrage. Some readers have reacted by simply refusing to believe the story. One top-voted comment on the Caijing post said, “Just a bunch of stewardesses on their time off with nothing to do.”
Qingdao Airlines recently grounded a member of the flight crew because she was “too fat to fly“.
