Chinese actress Huang Lu complains about bad service from Cathay Pacific staff in helping her retrieve her lost wallet, which she left at their check-in counter

Hong Kong’s biggest airline, Cathay Pacific, came under fire last week for the behaviour of three of their flight attendants.

They were accused by Mainland passengers of discriminating non-English speakers, and were said to have made fun of passengers who mixed up the words ‘blanket’ and ‘carpet’.

Though the airline has since apologised and fired the three flight attendants involved in the controversy, the incident has angered Chinese travellers.

On May 24, Chinese actress Huang Lu, 39, shared a post on Weibo documenting her own unpleasant experience with Cathay Pacific.

Huang Lu was travelling from Hong Kong to Xi An where she was slated to act in a play. According to her, the Cathay Pacific counter staff had a “terrible attitude” when she was checking in at the airport. She was apparently so vexed by the unpleasant service, she left her wallet , which contained "very important documents", on the counter. 

She only realised she didn't have her wallet with her right before boarding.

Huang Lu was told by the Cathay Pacific staff that the plane would not wait for her should she choose to return to the check-in counter to retrieve her wallet. She would have to miss the only flight that was headed to Xi An that day and that would mean she would not be able to attend rehearsals for the play,

As such, she decided to leave her wallet behind and think of other ways to retrieve it after getting on the flight.

Huang Lu then approached an air stewardess to ask if it was possible to contact the ground staff to arrange for her wallet to be put on the next flight to Xi An.

However, Huang Lu said she was treated coldly, and did not receive the lost and found form she had asked for. She had no choice but to seek out another flight attendant, only to stumble upon other cabin crew who were airing their grievances in English.

According to Huang Lu, a Taiwanese air steward was complaining about how the Mainland customs always appeared unhappy when they saw his passport.

When she approached them, she was told to go back to her seat and wait. "After a long time, an air stewardess came over and said that the lost and found form was of no use to me as the wallet was already found,” wrote Huang Lu.

Thankfully, the actress had carried her identity card with her, and was able to pass through the Xi An customs, despite not having her travel documents with her.

“The Xi An customs officer had an excellent attitude. [They told me] not to worry, said it was okay if I lost my documents, and as a Chinese citizen, I would definitely be able to return home. In that moment, I almost cried,” recounted Huang Lu.

She was assured by the Xi An airport staff that Cathay Pacific would arrange for her wallet to be sent over during their next scheduled flight from Hong Kong to Xi An, which was on May 2, four days after her arrival.

Thankfully, the actress was still able to pass through customs without her documents

However, on May 3, Huang Lu still did not receive news of her wallet. She was scheduled to leave Xi An on May 5 after wrapping up the play.

She called the Xi An airport to check on the delivery status of her wallet, but was told that no one had sent it over.

Huang Lu then turned to her friend in Hong Kong for help.

When her friend rang up the lost and found centre at the Hong Kong airport, they were told that Cathay Pacific did not contact them about Huang Lu's lost belongings at all.

Huang Lu’s friend eventually made the trip down to the airport to collect the wallet. She then sent it to Huang Lu who was in Shenzhen by then. 

The actress’ followers were equally upset by Cathay Pacific’s bad service.

“Cathay Pacific should be immediately blacklisted”, “This is really an example of discrimination”, and “The airline’s service culture is really poor”, were just some comments left by displeased netizens. 

Photos: Huang Lu/ Weibo