In the first class section of your flight, you may expect the tender luxury to begin with a serving of nuts. But some people are allergic to nuts (or dislike them), so the flight attendant should ask if you would like nuts. These nuts should be served to you in a lordly dish, possibly heated up.

If this is not your experience, you should fly into a rage, demand the dismissal of the flight attendant, and insist that the plane be turned around so the incompetent individual can be ejected.

We know this is so, because this is how a vice president of Korean Air Lines reacted when she was subjected to this mistreatment.

Cho Hyun-ah (aka Heather) was not only a VP at Korean Air, not only the person in charge of the airline’s in-flight service, but also the daughter of the chairman of Hanjin Group, the family conglomerate that owns the airline. So when the flight attendant did not ask about her nut preferences, and just slapped a sack of macadamias in front of her, Cho was infuriated.

She called the steward over, questioned him, didn’t like his answers, called the head steward over, didn’t like his answers, and spoke to the pilot. The pilot turned the plane around – they were still on the ground – and taxied back to the gate so the vile flight attendant could be ousted.

There! Now the flight from New York to Inchon, South Korea, could resume.
However, the resulting kerfuffle is still building. Criticism in South Korea over the “going nuts over nuts” incident was intense. People called for boycotting Korean Air “She is a national embarrassment,” said one Facebook user.

Korean Air began by saying that it was “natural” for Cho to criticize the crew, though they conceded that going back to the gate might have been “excessive.” Still, she made that decision in consultation with the pilot.

Didn’t help. Apparently some people in South Korea have issues with arrogant behavior from younger members of powerful families who own conglomerates (called chaebol).

The airline then announced that Cho was stepping down as head of in-flight services, though she would still be a VP. She issued a statement that said:

I am sorry for causing trouble to the passengers and the people. I seek forgiveness from those who were hurt by what I did.

That didn’t end it.

On December 10th, her father, Cho Yang-ho, chairman of the Hanjin Group, made a public appearance. He bowed, said his daughter’s behavior had been foolish, said “I failed to raise her properly,” and asked that the blame for the incident go to him.

As chairman and father, I ask for the public’s generous forgiveness.

By this time, she no longer had any titles with the company.

Later that day, she also made a public appearance before being questioned by transport officials. She bowed, and said:

I’m sorry. I sincerely apologize.

Said to have been trembling visibly, she said she would meet with the crew member who she’d found fault with, and apologize to him personally.

This seems like a particular useful thing to do, since that very day the head steward told KBS-TV that on the flight in question, Cho Hyun-ah had made him apologize. She had him kneel down, called him names, and struck him with a folder of documents. Which she then threw at the junior steward, the inept server of nuts. “You can’t imagine the humiliation I felt,” he said.

Whether it happened like this is in dispute, as she denied it when she emerged from the meeting with the transportation authorities.

Ms. Cho’s apologies are too vague. She speaks of ‘what she did,’ but doesn’t say what that was.

Her father’s apology is also vague. Her behavior was foolish? Yes, and what about cruel?

Apparently there is a Korean tradition in which the parents of malefactors take the blame for their children’s misdeeds. An American, I have mixed feelings. Sometimes it’s appropriate for parents to apologize for kids’ misdeeds – though that shouldn’t get the kids off the hook. Sometimes it’s really not parents’ fault. Probably Cho Yang-ho really did raise her wrong – giving her and her siblings executive jobs seems like a bad sign – but she’s 40. The responsibility is hers.

On the positive side, macadamia sales are surging in South Korea, as are macadamia jokes.