THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Let’s take a lesson from the AirAsia incident

Let’s take a lesson from the AirAsia incident

No one looking on should be prostrating themselves to uniformed, biased attitudes

One of Thailand’s deepest-rooted traditions was at the centre of a social-media storm this week after word got out that an AirAsia flight attendant had apologetically grovelled on hands and knees before an upset passenger. The online commentators were chiefly incensed because they believed the attendant had been ordered to do so by the airline’s management. The airline insists, however, that she did it voluntarily.
Regardless of who is at fault, the public reaction is just as worrying as that of the airline and the woman in question. 
The passenger had been aboard a domestic flight with her autistic daughter. The stewardess asked her whether the daughter required special service. On arriving at their destination, the mother complained to the airline’s customer-care unit that her daughter had been verbally mistreated and later still made the complaint public on Facebook. The airline arranged a meeting at which the flight attendant lay prostrate before the mother in penitence.
When word spread more widely on the social networks, a firestorm descended on the mother, who observers believed was being overly protective of her daughter, and on the airline for yielding unnecessarily to pressure from a customer. Was the airhostess not simply following aviation rules? Is it appropriate in this day and age for citizens to grovel in front of others, regardless of rank or status?
What is more interesting about this tempest in a teapot, though, once again, is the considerable impact of the social media. While users were having fun watching the story unfold, lives were being disrupted. 
Both the mother and air attendant had to close their Facebook accounts due to an onslaught of unwanted comments and the latter was reported by a friend to be deeply upset. 
AirAsia is facing an upheaval in its personnel and business. Its management can’t be seen to renege on its apology to the passenger, but it’s under pressure to do right by its employee.
Among the trickier elements to the story is the airline’s protocol for dealing with customers who have special needs. 
The families and other caretakers, who obviously have had to deal with regulations and restrictions on a daily basis, have to be accommodated. There are also the matter of air safety and the manner in which businesses manage personnel crises.
That the mother in this case took offence is not surprising. Air-travel regulations can be exasperating for relatives travelling with disabled and autistic people. Controversy erupted in the United States last year when a woman and her autistic daughter were barred from boarding a plane. 
In the minds of some commentators it was outright discrimination and, to others, it was well within the airline’s rights.
The AirAsia hostess might well have been following procedure in asking about the young woman’s condition, but perhaps did so carelessly, causing indignation and possibly overreaction. It’s possible too that AirAsia management – concerned about the airline’s image – doesn’t want to unequivocally defend its employee and instead prompted her to make a humbling apology.
It cannot be determined at this point what actually took place and how decisions were made, but surely there is a lesson in this jumble for us all. It’s apparent enough that haste, misunderstanding and overreaction came into play before and after the incident. 
In such cases it becomes crucial that everyone involved take a step back and regard the events with an unbiased eye. 
They must not view the incident in retrospect solely to affirm that they were wronged, but rather ask whether they might have done wrong themselves. This is the only way to prevent situations like these from repeating themselves.
RELATED
nationthailand