A Korean Air flight returned to the gate at New York's JFK airport after a spat involving a first-class passenger broke out...over a packet of nuts.
This was no ordinary passenger though, as the chairman of the company's daughter demanded that a member of the crew be taken off the plane because she passed out packets of macadamia nuts to the passengers instead of putting them on a plate.
Cho Hyun-ah, who is also the vice-president responsible for cabin service, is the daughter of Cho Yang-ho, the tycoon who owns Korean Air, and she was making her influence felt on the flight from New York to Incheon by demanding that the head of the cabin crew on board get off the plane before they took off.
The story has caused plenty of headlines abroad, but has also garnered the airline negative publicity at home as many claimed that the incident was yet another example of the children of the super-rich elite behaving poorly.
According to AP, this is a frequent issue in Korea, where the families and siblings of those in power at major companies often have far too much influence and more say than many of the shareholders and board members.
Cho Hyun-ah has resigned over the issue, despite the fact that the airline originally defended her behaviour on the December 5th flight, which did end up getting delayed by 20 minutes as a result of her macadamia-related tantrum. However, there may also be legal action taken as a result of her forcing the aircraft to return to the gate while it was ready to taxi for take-off, as they may have broken safety regulations by doing so, according to The Guardian.
We guess you could say that she went a bit nuts...
