A flight from Beijing to Chengdu was delayed by three hours as a passenger demanded an upgrade. He’d purchased two business class seats and one in economy for his family, and believed he was entitled to a free upgrade once on board.
The 300 passengers on the plane were delayed, with many ultimately forced to rebook onto later flights, which is less of an inconvenience than it might seem since this is a route with nearly three dozen peak daily flights across Sichuan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Air China and Hainan Airlines.
Passengers became irate over how much time this conflict took. What’s shocking is that the airline put up with it for three hours, rather than having the passenger removed or offloading the entire aircraft.
He was adamant that, because he had bought two first-class tickets, he should be allowed to upgrade a family member from economy class for free.
In a viral video filmed by a passenger, surnamed Zhao, the man is seen surrounded by a group of people including flight attendants, security guards and passengers, as he rages against them.
“Stop swearing at me. You have no right to do that,” he bellows.
When a male passenger attempts to point out the airline’s policy, the man becomes furious and turns on him. A security guard tries to intervene and calm the situation, but the man will not be subdued.
While reporting doesn’t mention the airline, Sichuan, Hainan and Air China all operate widebody aircraft on some flights on the route which could accommodate around 300 passengers. I’m not an expert on Chinese airline interiors, but my recollection is that both Sichuan and Hainan interiors would be red, so I assume that this was Air China. Some of you will know better.
Credit: Chinese social media platform Douyin, which shares an owner with TikTok
Apparently the incident was triggered around 11 a.m. – shortly after boarding for what appears to have been an 11:40 or 11:45 a.m. departure – because the man’s two year old began to cry, and so he wanted the whole family seated together. The man was offloaded at 2 p.m.
Entitled people always think that they are due a lot more than what they paid for.
I’d bet this is either entirely faked or at least grossly exaggerated! (After all, it does involve TikToxic.)
I highly doubt that ANY airline would put up with him for 30 minutes, let alone 180. They’d have either given in or had him removed long before then.
@Gary
Stop getting your fake news on social media, ESPECIALLY TikToxic.
Bought one econ ticket to have 3 boarding passes, thought 2 year old could squeak by as a lap child in parents’ two bisiness class seats?
This is not fake news. It’s a China Eastern flight. It happened around 11PM and the man wasn’t taken off until 2AM. Then the flight was cancelled for weather related reason, meaning no compensation for delayed passengers. The entitled man bought first class tickets for his child and himself, and an economy for the nanny, then demanded a free upgrade to first for the nanny to care for the child. When refused, he then threw a temper tantrum. China Eastern and the police incredibly put up with this nonsense for 3 hours perhaps on account of the minor.