HEATHER CHO, a vice president of Korean Air, and daughter of the airline’s chief executive, is being investigated after an incident on a plane about to take off from JFK heading to Seoul. Bloomberg reports that Ms Cho “ordered a plane back to the gate so she could remove a crew member who gave an incorrect answer to a question on how to serve macadamia nuts.” The Guardian quotes reports that Ms Cho began to scream after the steward first failed to ask whether she wanted the nuts, and then served them to her in a paper bag rather than on a plate.
Clearly nuts are an important part of flying (Alan Shepard, an Apollo astronaut, took a peanut with him to the Moon and back; on Earth, a possibly well-oiled Steve McQueen tried to eat it when shown the legume in a bar). But they are not quite as important as having a serene cabin. Korean Air said Ms Cho is responsible for checking service standards, although she was flying as a passenger at the time. One has to wonder what page of the carrier’s customer-service manual suggests that causing a scene, insisting the plane turn back for the gate while taxiing, and delaying a flight for 11 minutes is the response the other 400 customers demand for serving a snack on incorrect crockery.
There is also the question of whether Ms Cho’s actions were legal. Once aboard a flight, cabin crew are only supposed to take orders from the pilot, regardless of whether there are ranking officials from the company present. Korean Air said that the captain had backed Ms Cho’s demands in this instance. But the South Korean government is investigating, according to the Guardian report. Korean Air will be hoping that its commitment to its nuts, and the ensuing bad publicity, won’t end up costing it a packet.
Heather CHO
Executive Vice President, Korean Air
Chief Executive Officer, KAL Hotel Network
Ms Heather Cho is the Executive Vice President for Korean Air, the national carrier and largest airline of South Korea, where she manages the Catering and In-flight Sales Business, Cabin Service and Hotel Business divisions.
Since joining the company in 1999, Ms Cho has been actively involved in establishing a new corporate identity for Korean Air. This includes newly designed uniforms with the collaboration of GianFranco Ferre, new cabin interiors and caterings as well as the successful launch of the Airbus A380.
Ms Cho is also the Chief Executive Officer of KAL Hotel Network, a hoteling affiliate of Korean Air. Korean Air has five hotel properties: two in Jeju Island, one at Incheon International Airport, and two in Los Angeles and Hawaii. Under her leadership, Hyatt Regency Incheon was successfully opened on September, 2003. It has demonstrated one of the best business performances worldwide among the Hyatt chain, and is still growing rapidly.
Apart from managing all these hotels, Ms Cho is also in charge of three new projects, which include the development the second Hyatt Hotel (Incheon, Korea), the rebuilding of Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles, and the development of a luxury hotel in downtown Seoul.
Ms Cho is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, New York. She also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California.
Clearly nuts are an important part of flying (Alan Shepard, an Apollo astronaut, took a peanut with him to the Moon and back; on Earth, a possibly well-oiled Steve McQueen tried to eat it when shown the legume in a bar). But they are not quite as important as having a serene cabin. Korean Air said Ms Cho is responsible for checking service standards, although she was flying as a passenger at the time. One has to wonder what page of the carrier’s customer-service manual suggests that causing a scene, insisting the plane turn back for the gate while taxiing, and delaying a flight for 11 minutes is the response the other 400 customers demand for serving a snack on incorrect crockery.
There is also the question of whether Ms Cho’s actions were legal. Once aboard a flight, cabin crew are only supposed to take orders from the pilot, regardless of whether there are ranking officials from the company present. Korean Air said that the captain had backed Ms Cho’s demands in this instance. But the South Korean government is investigating, according to the Guardian report. Korean Air will be hoping that its commitment to its nuts, and the ensuing bad publicity, won’t end up costing it a packet.
Heather CHO
Executive Vice President, Korean Air
Chief Executive Officer, KAL Hotel Network
Ms Heather Cho is the Executive Vice President for Korean Air, the national carrier and largest airline of South Korea, where she manages the Catering and In-flight Sales Business, Cabin Service and Hotel Business divisions.
Since joining the company in 1999, Ms Cho has been actively involved in establishing a new corporate identity for Korean Air. This includes newly designed uniforms with the collaboration of GianFranco Ferre, new cabin interiors and caterings as well as the successful launch of the Airbus A380.
Ms Cho is also the Chief Executive Officer of KAL Hotel Network, a hoteling affiliate of Korean Air. Korean Air has five hotel properties: two in Jeju Island, one at Incheon International Airport, and two in Los Angeles and Hawaii. Under her leadership, Hyatt Regency Incheon was successfully opened on September, 2003. It has demonstrated one of the best business performances worldwide among the Hyatt chain, and is still growing rapidly.
Apart from managing all these hotels, Ms Cho is also in charge of three new projects, which include the development the second Hyatt Hotel (Incheon, Korea), the rebuilding of Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles, and the development of a luxury hotel in downtown Seoul.
Ms Cho is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, New York. She also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California.
