Attendant fired over coffee ‘threat’

Published on 05/12/2012 01:33

A CATHAY Pacific flight attendant has lost her job after writing on her Facebook page that she wanted to throw coffee in a passenger’s face because she was the daughter of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The comments about Thaksin’s youngest daughter, Pae­tongtarn Shinawatra, caused a stir in Thailand’s online community. The attendant also posted a picture of Paetongtarn’s seat number on a Bangkok-to-Hong Kong flight on 25 November.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific said that the posting of a passenger’s personal information was unauthorised and against the airline’s privacy rules. It said that the flight attendant is “no longer an employee”.

The flight attendant said in her post that she called her personnel adviser to ask “if it was all right to throw something on [Paetongtarn] on this flight”.

“I didn’t throw coffee in her face today but she had no clue that I will keep on fighting until your clan can no longer live like fleas on the Thai soil,” she wrote.

Cathay Pacific did not release the name of the flight attendant; her Facebook name is Honey ­Lochanachai.

Thaksin, a divisive figure in Thai politics, was removed in a 2006 coup and lives in self-imposed exile following a 2008 corruption conviction.

His sister, Yingluck, has been prime minister since last year, and her opponents say she is Thaksin’s proxy.