国泰航空服务人员被指歧视讲普通话的乘客，在两地激起巨大回响。国泰两日内三次道歉，并于昨晚将三名有关人员解聘，其行政总裁在声明中表示，对于个别员工严重违反公司规章制度及道德准则的行为持“零容忍”的态度，决不姑息，并会从三个方面作出全面检讨。国泰此次处理事件迅速，但最终效果如何、会否真正得到改善，还有待观察。另一方面，整个香港社会要以此事为鉴，真正提升整体的服务水平。
本月21日由成都飞往香港的国泰航班上，有空中服务人员讥笑英语说得不好的内地乘客，并以“听不懂人话”来取笑不懂粤语的乘客。航空公司的国际化程度高，掌握多种语言是空服人员的基本职业要求。既然有关航班的乘客大多数为内地乘客，空服人员理应提供普通话服务，而不是一味以英语沟通。从网友提供的视频来看，有关空服人员并非听不懂普通话，而是扮作“听不懂”，服务恶劣，这是明显的歧视，是绝对不能接受的。
乘客付钱买票，票价中就包含了服务。乘客是来享受服务的，而不是被无视、被侮辱、被嘲弄的。一石激起千重浪，今次事件勾起曾遭遇不礼貌对待的乘客的痛苦回忆，引起强烈的共鸣。我们不能简单地认为这是“网络效应”，而应从中看到问题的本质。
国泰以往曾出现过类似问题，但应对时往往是走流程、作官式回应，处理结果也是避重就轻。但此次处理果断、迅速，值得肯定，正如有媒体人所说“香港和以往大不一样了”。然而，公众不愿意看到只是拿个别基层服务人员出来“祭旗”，国泰更应该深刻反省，刮骨疗毒，全面审视服务流程、人员培训等相关制度。另一方面，国泰持续亏损多年，特别是三年疫情期间，特区m88投入数百亿元公帑为国泰“续命”，从保障公众利益的角度，特区m88不能做“旁观者”，而是要扮演积极角色。
更重要的是，香港社会需要举一反三，审视各行各业内有没有类似的问题。事实上，香港全面复常之初，有内地网红专程来港体验说普通话会有什么待遇，结果声称遭遇歧视；今年五一期间，社交平台上也不乏类似“吐槽”。可见其他服务业也是良莠不齐，需要反思，切实端正服务意识，提高服务质素。业界以及特区m88有关部门要从整体及长远角度着眼，找出行业存在的普遍性问题，切切实实去解决。
在事件发生后，有位内地网络大V在谈起感想时，举了一个例子。他在澳洲与家人去看急诊时，当地医生问他需不需要中文服务，并专门强调说：你英文很好，但这不是你的义务，是我们的责任。“这是我们的责任”，这简单的一句话，反映出了强烈的责任感，以及高度的服务意识。一位医生尚且如此，更何况是空中服务人员？香港各界应从中得到启示。
需要指出的是，国泰代表不了香港，有关空服人员更代表不了整个香港服务业。在两地交流的洪流中，这类恶劣的事件是偶发的、局部的，不能一棍打死所有人。客观而言，普通话在香港越来越受重视，内地游客在香港获得热心帮助的温情故事更是数不胜数，所以也要慎防别有用心者故意炒作事件，制造两地矛盾。香港社会引此事为戒，不断提升服务质素。“用心待客”，香港依然是“好客之都”！
The enlightenment the Cathay Pacific incident gives to Hong Kong
Some cabin crew members on a Cathay Pacific Airways flight were accused of discriminating against Putonghua-speaking passengers, which has aroused strong repercussions among people in Hong Kong and on the Mainland. The airline has made three apologies in two days and sacked the three crew membrs concerned last night. In a statement, Cathay Pacific's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said the airline had a "zero-tolerance approach" to serious breaches of the company's policies and code of conduct and "there is no compromise for such violation", adding that the airline would conduct a comprehensive review from three aspects. While Cathay Pacific has dealt with the incident promptly this time, it remains to be seen whether its measures are effective in the end and whether there will be improvements in reality. On the other hand, whole Hong Kong society should take this incident as a lesson to truly improve the overall service quality.
On a May 21 Cathay Pacific flight from Chengdu to Hong Kong, some cabin crew members ridiculeed some Mainland passengers who could not speak English well, and made fun of passengers who did not understand Cantoness saying they "understand no human language". Airlines have high-level internationalisation, hence being multilingual is the basic occupational requirement for a cabin crew member. Since the majority of passengers on the flight concerned are Mainlanders, the cabin crew members should have provided services in Putonghua instead of communicating in English exclusively. From the audio clip provided by a netzen, it was not the case that the cabin crew members concerned did not understand Putonghua but they simply played dumb in ill-mannered service. This is discrimination through and through, which is absolutely unacceptable.
A passenger pays money to buy an air ticket with services included in the price paid. A passenger taking a flight to enjoy services not to be ignored, insulted, and/or ridiculed. A tossed stone raises a thousand ripples. This incident refreshed passengers' bitter memories of being treated impolitely, arousing strong repercussions. We must not simply regard this simply as "network effect" but should see from this the nature of the problem.
In the past similar incidents also occurred with Cathay Pacific. However, the airline's handling such incidents was just a formality to give some bureaucratic responses, evading important matters and dwelling on the trivial. This time, its reaction is decisive and prompt, which is praiseworthy. Just as some journalist put it, "Hong Kong is now quite different from the past". Nevertheless, the public are not satisfied to see that only a couple of grassroots cabin crew members are used as "sacrifices". Cathay Pacific should do deep soul-searching and "scrap the bone clear of toxin", conducting a comprehensive review on its service procedures, staff training and other relevant regulations and rules. On the other hand, Cathay Pacific suffers losses for many years in a row. During the three years of the Covid-19 epidemic, in particular, the SAR Government injected tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money into Cathay Pacific to "sustain its life". From the perspective of protecting public interests, the SAR Government must not remain as a "bystander" but instead should take a more active role.
More importantly, Hong Kong society should learn by analogy from this incident to find out whether similar problems exist in other industries and sectors. In fact, in the early days when normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland was fully resumed, a Mainland cyber celebrity came to Hong Kong with the purpose to see how a Putonghua-speaker would be treated and in the end claimed discrimination was experienced. During the May Day long holiday, many similar complaints were also pasted on social media platforms. From this, it can be seen that other service industries are also made up of all kinds of people. They also need to do soul-searching to really heighten service awareness and improve service quality. Industries concerned and relevant government departments should, from an overall and long-term perspective, find out common problems with the industries and solve them in a down-to-earth way.
After the incident, a Mainland cyber VIP made his comments by taking an example with his personal experience. While in Australia, once he and his family went to the emergency room where a local doctor asked him whether they needed Chinese-language services and specially stressed that "your English is very good, but this is not you obligation but our responsibility". Such a simple sentence shows a strong sense of responsibility and keen service awareness. Even a medical doctor should have such service awareness, let alone cabin crew members of air flights! Various sectors of Hong Kong society should be enlightened from this.
It must be pointed out that Cathay Pacific cannot represent Hong Kong, not to mention that the cabin crew members concerned cannot represent the whole of service industries in Hong Kong. In the mighty torrent of exchange between Hong Kong and the Mainland, such an outrageous incident is occasional and fragmentary. We should not tar the whole aviation and other service industries with the same brush just because of this incident. Objectively speaking, Putonghua is being given more and more attention in Hong Kong, and there are numerous tender stories about Mainland visitors get warm-hearted helps in Hong Kong. So we also must remain vigilant against the possibility that some persons with ulterior motives may make use of the incident to stir up conflicts between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Hong Kong society should take this incident as a lesson to keep improving service quality. "Treating guests heartedly", Hong Kong is still a "city of hospitability"!
