After the Cathay Pacific discrimination incident, another unpleasant communication between a Chinese airline and its passenger occurred recently.A China Southern Airlines ground service staff member verbally insulted a passenger, saying he'd treat them "like a dog" at Singapore Changi Airport. This incident was widely noticed after the passenger uploaded the video he took with his phone at the scene.

The words exchanged during the dispute

"If you want to be a dog, then I can treat you like a dog. It's very simple," the ground service staff member said in Mandarin to the passenger, who identified himself as Mr. Yuan to Chinese media.

"Who's the dog? Say it clearly," the passenger responded in Mandarin.

"I'm trying to explain things, and you just come and interrupt," the ground service worker continued.

"Explain who the dog is, say it clearly, and repeat what you said," the passenger repeats, clearly provoked. He continues in English, "Say it again. Who is the dog?"

"Can't even act like a human being," the staff mutters with a finger-pointing gesture.

The video ends here without elucidating how the dispute ended.

The reason behind the dispute

According to the narrative from Mr. Yuan, he was on flight CZ546 from Singapore Changi Airport to Chongqing on May 23rd, and there were no other passengers at the check-in counter when he arrived.

During the check-in process, he wanted to be able to switch his seat, but the female staff informed him that it would require extra fees. Mr. Yuan said he never encountered such a situation before, so he requested further inquiries. He was then taken to the male supervisor with whom he had the dispute minutes later.

The male staff identified himself as the highest level supervisor of China Southern at Changi Airport. And the male staff and female staff whispered with each other, and when Mr. Yuan asked why extra fees were requested, the male staff felt that he had interrupted their internal communication. Then the dispute erupted.

Mr. Yuan expressed that he had to restrain his anger and repeatedly asked the male staff to clarify who is the "dog." But the male staff neither dared to repeat nor confirm.

Eventually, Mr. Yuan left due to the flight departure time. Mr. Yuan mentioned the male and female staff communicate with each other in Chinese, but when speaking to Mr. Yuan, they denied understanding Chinese.

China Southern made an apology

China Southern Airlines' Singapore sales department issued an apology on Saturday, saying it reached out to Mr. Yuan. The airline explained that the ground staff member was employed by a local ground service agency that had a service agreement with China Southern.

"While serving the passenger, the staff member engaged in a dispute with the passenger and used language that was severely inappropriate," the statement said.

China Southern stated that it had requested that the service agency stop the staff member from working for the Singapore branch of China Southern Airlines. Furthermore, it committed to upgrading its service standards and staff management.