Cathay Pacific Issues Groveling Apology After Flight Attendants Serve Three-Year-Old Child a Glass of Wine

Cathay Pacific has been forced to issue a groveling apology to the parents of a three-year-old child who was accidentally served a glass of white wine during a flight from Hong Kong to London Heathrow.

The public apology came after the parents went public over what, at first sight, seems pretty trivial, but which they claim could result in long-term health problems, including “delayed neurological, developmental and physiological” issues.

According to the parents, they were flying in Cathay Pacific Business Class around two weeks ago when the incident happened, and they decided to tell their story to local media after the airline failed to tell them how the mistake happened or provide details on how they would prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

How the drink mix-up occurred

The incident occurred shortly after the departure of Cathay Pacific flight CX255 on April 24 as the flight attendants were distributing meal trays for the main dinner service.

The three-year-old boy was sitting in a window seat, and his father was on the opposite side of the aisle in a center seat, in close proximity to his son.

The child was served a chicken dish with what they thought was a glass of water, but after a little while, the toddler complained to his parents that the water tasted sour. They then took a sip and discovered it was actually a glass of white wine.

“The flight attendant started to serve dinner to passengers and our child just had chicken and water. We saw a glass of waterlike drink served to him and then my husband got to his seat and cut the chicken for him,” the boy’s mother told The South China Morning Press.

“Then my husband went back to his seat. But after a while, my son asked for water again and then we asked what was wrong, he said he took a sip and the water was too sour. We immediately took a sip and found it was white wine instead of water.”

Parents then demand answers, and medical professionals are called

When the parents complained, the flight attendant serving them apologized and swapped out the glass of wine with a glass of water.

Not satisfied with this response, the parents then complained to a senior crew member and escalated the incident to the point that a specialist emergency medical service called Medlink had to be contacted.

The flight attendants would have spoken with an on-call physician at Medlink’s control center in Phoenix, Arizona, via a satellite phone, only to be told that no medical intervention was required.

Still concerned, however, a request for a medical professional was made over the public address system, and a French doctor came forward to volunteer his expertise. The doctor tried to reassure the family that in France, children as young as five could consume small amounts of alcohol and that he didn’t think any harm would come to their child.

The child’s mother is still unimpressed with the in-flight response

The mother, however, remains unimpressed with the medical care offered to her son.

“During the whole process, there was a lack of care for my son. They gave me the impression that they were trying to shirk responsibility,” she told the SCMP.

“We understand that alcohol consumption in young children can have delayed neurological, developmental, and physiological impacts that may not manifest immediately. We are in the process of arranging comprehensive medical assessments with pediatric specialists.”

When contacted by the newspaper, Cathay Pacific was forced to issue an apology, confirming that crew had sought professional medical advice and had monitored the child’s condition for the remainder of the flight.

“We take this matter very seriously and have launched an internal review to ensure appropriate follow-up actions are implemented, and goodwill is being offered. We will continue to support and assist the family,” a statement from the airline explained.

In response to the mother’s complaint, Cathay Pacific told her that it had sent out communications to all of its flight attendants, reminding them about the importance of checking meal orders before serving them to passengers.

Matt’s take – Flight attendants went above and beyond to care for this family.

Although the SCMP has quoted a Cathay Pacific purser who criticized declining service standards at the airline, it should be noted that crew members at the Hong Kong flagship carrier are still very professional, and this really sounds like a one-off occurrence.

Business Class galleys at Cathay Pacific are usually very organized and efficient, with flight attendants helping each other out to prepare and serve trays to make the overall service as seamless as possible.

That appears to have led to a simple mistake whereby the wrong drink was placed on a tray and not picked up by the flight attendant who served it. Thankfully, the child only took a sip or two of the wine, and the flight attendant probably thought no hard had been done.

Of course, when the child’s parents raised concerns, the crew appeared to go above and beyond to ensure that the toddler got the medical care that the parents thought he required.

It is perhaps a little unfortunate that of all the nationalities that the doctor could have been, he was French. I can imagine him being a little puzzled about the parent’s reaction.

That being said, it’s only right that Cathay Pacific reviews its processes and reminds cabin crew about delivering the correct meal or drinks. After all, while not a health risk, it would be unacceptable to serve alcohol, no matter how mistakenly, to a Muslim customer.

On a more serious note, serving the wrong food to someone with a severe food allergy could clearly end in life-threatening or deadly consequences.