Virgin Atlantic has sparked fury
in China after crew members allegedly kicked an unaccompanied
11-year-old boy from a London-bound flight at Shanghai airport, with the family
saying the youngster was traumatized from his experience.
The family claim that they had booked an ‘unaccompanied minors’ seat for the boy, who was due to attend a summer camp in Britain.
But after being seated on the plane, he was
told he had to leave as that category had been overbooked.
Ye Wennan, the family’s lawyer, told The Telegraph: “More than 10 staff, including the captain and flight attendants came
over and demanded him to get off the plane.”
The boy’s mother said her son was due to fly to the UK on the VS251 flight
on July 9, and that she had decided to go public about the incident because she
was not satisfied with Virgin’s response.
“My son was clearly scared,” said the mother, who would only give her name as Mrs. Liu. “He cried for long hours and woke up with nightmares," she told
The Telegraph.
In a statement, Virgin UK said there were too
many unaccompanied minors booked onto the flight and as a result the airline
had to remove the last booked customer from the flight, as there were not
enough cabin crew present to ensure their safety in the event of an incident.
"This decision was made with the customer’s
wellbeing in mind, and our airport team looked after the child until their
parents returned to the airport," the company said.
Sir Richard Branson’s airline apologized for the incident and
offered the family free flights to London.
Mrs. Liu, who is from Zhejiang in eastern
China, said: "Three free round trip tickets are useless for us. My husband
and I are busy with work every day. We definitely have no time for
London."
Despite Virgin‘s offer to the family, many in China were outraged at the airline.“You have rushed this boy from the plane while others are watching,
have you any idea how hurtful that is,” said one
comment.
“Similar things have happened
on airlines before,” said another comment. “Discrimination against Chinese nationals hurt deeply. They ignore
first, and they won't apologize until the whole thing goes public.”
Virgin Atlantic has previously been embroiled
in controversy in China.
Sir Richard apologized on Twitter last
year when a woman claimed she was called a “Chinese pig” on a Shanghai to London
flight by a Caucasian passenger, before she was ignored by cabin staff.
The case involving the boy is the latest to put
the spotlight on airlines’ conduct towards passengers,
and another example of Chinese consumers venting fury at Western brands.
(Evangle Luo of TTFLY shared with you)
