Couple handed lifetime airline ban after slapping passenger during seating row

An airline has banned a couple from flying with them every again after an argument broke out over a reclining seat.

Cathay Pacific, a Hong Kong based-airline, said they added a couple onto their no-fly list after they disrespected other passengers, the BBC reports.

A Chinese woman posted on social media Xiaohongshu that she was flying from Hong Kong to London on Setember 17 when a couple accused her of obstructing their view on the in-flight telecision.

They asked if she could straighten her seat, but when the woman refused the wife placed her legs on the armrest and began swearing and slapping her arm in Cantonose.

She said: ‘When she realised I couldn’t speak Cantonese, she started calling me “mainland girl” in a derogatory tone.’

The woman then claimed the husband ‘frantically pushed’ the back of her seat, with a clip on social media showing the chair vibrating as the man’s arms lay on the back it.

Another clip shows the wife raising her middle finger at the woman.

A flight attendant told the woman she should straighten her seat rather than tell the couple to stop.

She said: ‘I was shocked because it was not meal time, yet the flight attendant wanted me to compromise. I rejected the suggestion.

‘After some passengers spoke up for me, the flight attendant finally said I could switch seats. I felt it was absurd—what if no one had backed me up?

‘Would I have just been left to deal with it on my own?’

Cathay Pacific said: ‘We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any behaviour that violates aviation safety regulations or disrespects the rights of other customers.

‘We will deny future travel on any Cathay Group flights to the two customers involved in this incident.’

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