A Korean Air dispute that started in 2014 has been settled in a South Korean court Simple Flying has learnt. Four years ago Korean Air swamped the international press with an incident which has since come to be known as “Nut Rage”. The incident involved a blunder made by a senior member of cabin crew being blown way out of proportion.

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While any Tom, Richard, or Harry would’ve overlooked the blunder, unfortunately, it was made in front of the Korean Airlines Chairman’s daughter. The chairman’s daughter saw it fit to personally reprimand the employee involved, which has lead to the accusations of "physical and psychological suffering".

Korean Air
The incident affected a Korean Air flight between Hong Kong and Seoul. Photo: Airbus

What Happened?

The story starts back in 2014 on a delayed flight from Seoul to New York. The Airline’s Chairman’s daughter, Ms Cho Hyun-ah, was served some macadamia nuts. However, when these nuts were presented in a bag, and not a plate, Ms Cho reportedly broke into a fit of rage. After reprimanding the flight attendant, Park Chang-jin, she forced him to apologise on his knees. Shortly thereafter, she had him removed from the flight before it departed the gate.

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In the days that followed, Mr Park was demoted. This was reportedly due to his dealings with the media regarding the incident. As a result of the incident, Ms Cho was convinced of coercion, abuse of power, and violating aviation safety in 2015. Additionally, this meant that she was required to serve a 5-month prison term. She has since resigned from the airline.

Nut Rage
The daughter of Korean Air's chairman was sent to prison for 5 months over the incident. Photo: Kyodo

Court Partially Sides With Claimant

While Mr Park had sued Korean Air for $354,000, he was awarded considerably less. In fact, the court only awarded him $18,000 for the incident. This is as, while they sided with him regarding the “physical and psychological suffering”, they did not agree that his demotion was an unfair punishment. The figure awarded to Mr Park roughly equates to £14,000, a figure which Simple Flying thinks is reasonable given the circumstances.

Korean Air First Class
Korean's first class uses the same seats as business

When contacted by Simple Flying, a Korean Air representative was unable to provide a statement regarding the ruling. They did, however, highlight the fact that “the court backed Korean Air’s position that there was no unfair action on Mr Park’s demotion after the incident.”

Do you think Mr Park deserved the payout? Was his demotion unfair? Let us know in the comments down below!