A China Southern flight attendant was removed as a passenger from AirAsia flight 7809. She was traveling from Chongqing, China to Kuala Lumpur. The 2 a.m. departure on an Airbus A330 was delayed around an hour and a half on Wednesday after she complained that another customer stopped her from using her phone and filmed her.
She wanted the video deleted and an apology. A crewmember responded to her in English, and she became angrier. She complained that someone working an international flight from China should speak Chinese.
Ground staff repeatedly tried to calm her, told her her conduct was unlawful, and urged her to step off to resolve the matter peacefully on the ground. She refused, demanded compensation, and said that if the airline did not resolve it on the spot, nobody would be flying.
Police boarded the aircraft, told other passengers to stop filming, and led the woman offer. She asked the passenger who recorded her to send her the clip as evidence. Sometimes recording her is ok I guess?
The flight attendant whose interaction with her escalated her behavior says he does not speak Mandarin, asked a Mandarin-speaking purser for help, and the captain decided to turn the plane around to have her removed.
“讲中文‼️” (speak Chinese‼️)
The 🇨🇳 woman demanded a non-Chinese flight attendant speak Chinese (Mandarin) on AirAsia’s D7809 Chongqing to Kuala Lumpur flight on Apr 22 when the flight attendant politely asked her to lower her voice cuz she’s talking too loud on the phone after… https://t.co/u0OduLz4H0 pic.twitter.com/yDyOnQVMPr
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) April 22, 2026
The self-identified China Southern flight attendant at the center of the controversy is wrong that Mandarin speaking is mandatory on the flight.
- This is a Malaysian airline. Malaysia’s rules require flight attendants to be able to speak Malay and English.
- Generally the international approach is that airlines use their home country’s language and English.
- On international flights, airlines should consider the official languages of the departure and destination countries and the languages of passengers likely on board. So Mandarin is desireable to accommodate here, and they did have a Mandarin speaker, but not all announcements and crew are expected to accommodate Mandarin.
There are stupid legally-enforceable language rights onboard (stupid only because they are legally-enforceable), passengers do sometimes get banned for filming flight attendants and they refuse to get off their phone during the safety briefing.
Sassing a flight attendant during the briefing is ill-advised! Even if they are refusing to make announcements in the required language.
Canada’s language rules may seem stupid to non-Canadians. But we take them very seriously here. I have been a government worker (or “mandarin”) for 23 years. And they only seem stupid in some airline situations.
Chinese should be spoken on all flights to and from China. This is not remotely controversial.
I saw the clip on Instagram earlier today. The woman said that she wanted to make a phone call because once the plane is in the air, she cannot do so. Makes me not want to fly China Southern, the airline that she claims to work for as a FA.
@Manhattan West (EWR) — That’s what Xi said…
Byron Wan, whose Tweets you cited, has another post showing pic of passengers gleefully watching and filming.
Reminds me of something a teacher said. Anyone can snap, but you are trash if you enjoy watching another person’s meltdown.
Self entitled Chicom bat. Shaved NOT need to make a phone call, no one does. She, like everyone, has plenty oft On my way! (Hours) to yap about n your stupid phone. venom the plane, put it away, or TEXT. Period. This abhorrentbaddiction to cell phone usages has become a plague. STOP USING IT IN PUBLIC.’
@Manhattan West (EWR) – and it was!
A ball gag and a syringe full of Haldol should be standard equipment aboard flights for women like this.
Given that English is the agreed upon language for international aviation and as Gary points out this was on a Malaysian airline it’s not unreasonable that some FA’s might not be fluent in Mandarin. What makes this even more weird is that if the arrested woman truly was what she claimed she should be conversant in English herself so she was just trying to stir up trouble. With the way she was behaving she should frankly be fired as I doubt she embodies the service qualities China Southern expects from their flight attendants.
@O’Hare Is My Second Home — Tell us more about this so-called ‘ball gag’…
@O’Hare Is My Second Home — Tell us more about this so-called ‘ball gag’…
YES please!
She needs a spanking.
What I’ve seen is usually home country language, plus English. Once in a while the destination language, not always.
China Southern is a Malaysian carrier?
@retard
That’s what Xi said
Please come up with something new, this one is sooo tired, or I’m sooo tired of it. Predictable as weather. It’s not even remotely funny anymore. And the childish sexual innuendo is also tiresome. Get a new, less repeated shtick. Oof, bah and face palm you simple jackwagon.
It’s entirely possible that the CAAC has a regulation that airlines must have at least one Mandarin speaking flight attendant on flights to/from China.
Any country could require the airlines serving them to have native speakers on board , so people claiming it is not a legal requirement or that English is a universal language or “this doesn’t apply , Air Asia is Malay” are wrong.
As an aside , it appears the purser on the flight spoke Mandarin , so the above would be covered, if having a mandarin speaking crew member is a requirement for serving China.
Most Chinese tourists are the most obnoxious people I’ve ever had to meet. They should thank the USA and act normal because if the Japanese had not attacked the USA in WW2 they would all be speaking Japanese nowadays.
@Ryan – the flight had a Mandarin speaker.
@Rick Garner – this happened aboard Malaysian Airlines, the passenger identified as a China Southern flight attendant
@Pilot93434 — Thank you for your attention to this matter.
“Canada’s language rules may seem stupid to non-Canadians.” I know a number if Canadians who think they sre stupid.
“Chinese should be spoken on all flights to and from China. This is not remotely controversial.” And it was, just not by every FA. One of these, probably by chance, you’ll be correct about something.
Rick Garner says:
April 22, 2026 at 7:40 pm
China Southern is a Malaysian carrier? The first line is:
“A China Southern flight attendant was removed as a passenger from AirAsia flight 7809”
And, of course, AirAsia is a Malaysian carrier. How tough is this to get right?
The bad off duty China Southern Fa hurts the image of Communist China. She should have her wechat banned for a year.