The story of the Korean Air nut-rage incident.

This is the story of how a privileged wealthy girl stopped a Korean Air airliner from taking off because she objected to having nuts served to her in their original packaging. Once news of the incident leaked out, the nut-rage story became mainstream news in South Korea. The passenger was charged with endangering aviation safety for her outrageous behavior and sentenced to twelve months in prison.

The so-called nut-rage incident occurred on December 5, 2014, as a Korean Air Airbus A380 was preparing to depart New York John F. Kennedy Airport for a 15-hour 20-minute flight to Incheon International Airport (ICN) near Seoul, South Korea. Onboard Korean Air Flight 086 On board the aircraft was Heather Cho, a businesswoman and daughter of then Korean Air chairman and CEO, Cho Yang-ho.

It is also worth pointing out that at the time of the flight, Heather Cho was a Korean Air vice president. As was customary on Korean Air long-haul flights, the flight attendants handed out bags of nuts before the plane took off. When Heather Cho received her nuts still in the bag and not on a plate, she tore into the flight attendant and demanded to see Park Chang-jin, the cabin crew chief.

Cho told the cabin crew boss that he needed to kneel before her and beg forgiveness. She reportedly smacked him several times on the knuckles with a digital tablet before telling him he was fired. She then demanded that the plane taxi back to the gate so that Park could get off the plane, delaying the flight by 20 minutes.

Initially, Park agreed to keep the incident quiet, telling Korean Air executives that he would not go to the press. However, all the promises were soon off once he heard that Cho was reportedly spreading false rumors about sexual relations between Park and the flight attendant that served her the nuts.

He then decided it was time to bring the incident out in the open by filing an official complaint with the airline. Korean Air immediately apologized for the delay to the 250 passengers on the flight but tried to justify Cho's actions. They said that it was her job to inspect in-flight service and improve the product offered to Korean Air passengers. A fellow first class passenger who witnessed what had happened complained, and as a way of apologizing, Korean Air sent her a model plane and a calendar.

Fearing that an investigation by the Ministry of Transport would side with Korean Air, Park decided to go to the media and make the incident public knowledge. Now that the incident was in the mainstream news, it came to light that Cho had also attacked a flight attendant in 2013 after having been served undercooked noodles.

Despite the airline doing its best to make the nut-rage incident disappear, several passengers on the plane told the press what they had witnessed collaborating what Park had said happened. The entire time Cho dismissed the whole incident as never having happened.

Public opinion turned against Cho and Korean Air, forcing Cho to resign from her job as vice president. At a later trial, Cho continued to deny her innocence, but the evidence against her was overwhelming. The court found her guilty and sentenced her to a year in prison for obstructing aviation safety.

Journalist - Mark is an experienced travel journalist having published work in the industry for more than seven years. His enthusiasm for aviation news and wealth of experience lends itself to some excellent insight, with his work cited in Forbes amongst other publications. Based in Alicante, Spain.