HK Express, Cathay Pacific Airways’ budget wing, has apologised and offered a refund to two passengers on board a Japan-bound flight, a day after they were asked to give up their selected seats for a family of four due to a change in aircraft type by the carrier.
A Facebook post written by a fellow passenger, Vicky Fu, said “monster parents” had used their children as an excuse to sit together and “snatched” seats paid for by other passengers, a request which HK Express acceded to.
This made the passengers who had to give up their seats “furious”, even though the cabin crew told them they could apply for a refund, according to Fu’s post.
In a reply to the Post on Tuesday, HK Express said due to a change in the aircraft type for flight 690 to Nagoya on Monday, the seats the family originally booked became those immediately adjacent to the emergency exit, which minors are not allowed to occupy.
“According to regulations, two of the passengers who are minors could not be seated in the emergency exit row. Therefore, after explaining the need to reassign seats for the affected family and obtaining the consent of four other passengers seated in another row (which included two passengers who had paid for preselected seats), we promptly arranged the seat swaps,” the statement said.
HK Express had offered an explanation to those involved in the swap and promised to refund those who had paid to select their seats, according to the statement.
“We are very grateful for the understanding and cooperation of all passengers on that flight,” it said. “If a passenger fails to meet the relevant safety requirements, HK Express will arrange an alternative seat for that particular passenger.”
The carrier was recently embroiled in another controversy involving the removal of two visually impaired passengers from an aircraft, triggering a storm of protest after the incident was publicised by the blind union earlier in the month.
The airline apologised, promised to boost staff training and offered the pair a compensation package, but the passengers have yet to accept.
