A passenger on the flight wrote an online post about how the cabin crew of CX987 criticised and made fun of passengers who were asking for a carpet instead of a blanket in English. The passenger said flight attendants complained about passengers amongst themselves in English and Cantonese. "If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it ... Carpet is on the floor. Feel free if you want to lie on it," one flight attendant told passengers, in an audio recording that was widely circulated on social media.
Cathay's CEO Ronald Lam said the airline had a "zero tolerance" policy to breaches of the carrier's rules and ethics. "I would like to reiterate that Cathay Pacific takes a 'zero tolerance' approach to serious violations of company rules and ethics by individual employees and will not tolerate them," He continued that he would lead a cross-departmental working group to conduct a comprehensive review of service processes, staff training and related systems to enhance its service quality.
Lam added: "Most importantly, we must ensure that all Cathay Pacific staff respect passengers from different backgrounds and cultures and provide professional and consistent service in all areas served."
Even Hong Kong's chief executive got involved, John Lee, commented on social media that the discrimination incident was serious and could not be repeated - "The words and deeds of the flight attendants hurt the feelings of compatriots in Hong Kong and the mainland and destroyed Hong Kong's traditional culture and values of respect and courtesy."