Airline says employee in phone row on flight not a supervisor

Chinese flag carrier Air China said on Monday that a female passenger who claimed to be one of its supervisors during a dispute on a flight on Friday was a company employee but had been on home leave.

The airline said the employee, who was not a supervisor, was involved in a dispute with a passenger on flight CA4107 from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, to Beijing after the passenger used a cell phone while the aircraft was taxiing before takeoff.

After the flight landed at Beijing Capital International Airport, three passengers criticized by the woman and four cabin crew members were taken to the airport public security bureau for investigation, it said, adding that the employee had been on a personal trip.

Li Yaling, a playwright with nearly 1.3 million followers on Sina Weibo, said in a post on Saturday that the woman claimed to be a supervisor for the airline and vehemently criticized a female passenger in the first-class cabin.

She said the woman then criticized two male passengers who were also using their phones, even though they made it clear they had been switched to flight mode, with constant finger pointing and shouting.

The woman later demanded flight attendants provide a complaint form and the names and other information about the cabin crew and the three passengers, and then started to film the passengers using her phone. She also asked the attendants to call the police after landing, Li said.

Li said that after the flight landed, the three passengers were taken to the airport public security bureau and placed under investigation for seven hours.