Korean Air Lines Co. has this week been in
damage-control mode following public uproar against an executive who made
a jet return to its gate and ordered a crew member to disembark because of how
a bag of macadamia nuts was served. South
Korean media on Wednesday reported that macadamia sales have jumped at the
country’s major online marketplaces, in some cases more than doubling from the
previous week.
Sales of the nuts from Monday through Tuesday at Gmarket,
one of South Korea’s top online marketplaces and owned by eBay, are up 149%
from the same period a week ago, the Edaily business newspaper reported. Sales
of nuts overall jumped 36%, the report added, citing the company.
Gmarket’s official Twitter account on Tuesday tweeted a
photo showing Mauna Loa brand dry roasted macadamias with the text: “No need to
use many words. Those nuts. (Actually macadamias).” The tweet, which
appears to be a thinly-veiled reference to the Korean Air incident, has since
been deleted.
A Gmarket spokesman declined to comment. A Korean Air
spokesman said he didn’t immediately have information on the brand of macadamia
nuts offered on its flights.
The incident, first reported by the Hankyoreh daily
newspaper early Monday, has sparked a major media backlash. Cho Hyun-ah, the
executive and daughter of company Chairman Cho Yang-ho, issued a public apology
late Tuesday and has resigned from the national flag carrier.
According to a Korean Air spokesman’s account, Ms. Cho,
seated in the first-class cabin of an AirbusAirbus jet, “scolded” a
flight attendant last week after the attendant served her an unopened bag of
macadamias. A customer, Ms. Cho said, should have been asked if she wanted the
nuts, which should then have been served on a plate—not in a bag— in accordance
with Korean Air in-flight service protocol. A purser in charge of in-flight
administration and supply was summoned and ordered to exit the plane after
he couldn’t answer Ms. Cho’s questions to her satisfaction. The flight, leaving
New York’s John F. Kennedy airport for Seoul, was delayed for 20 minutes.
The story has since Monday remained among the top-trending
items on search engines and social media and has spawned a series of parodies.
The incident was portrayed as a sign of arrogance by many South Koreans online,
saying the families that own large conglomerates have too much influence on
their companies and the country.
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