Whether in the air or on the ground, no one wants to take an indulgent sip of a drink and discover that there's something sharp and spiky in the cup.
But that is, according to a complaint filed by a Korean Air traveler earlier this month, precisely what happened when he took a sip of an iced coffee served to him during a flight from China to Seoul's Incheon International Airport.
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As first reported by Korean news site Korea JoongAng Daily, the passenger was traveling aboard KE866 from Guangzhou Baiyun International on Sept. 1 when he took a sip of the iced coffee and realized that he had swallowed a piece of glass that was about 0.5cm long and 0.1cm thick (approximately 0.2 and 0.039 inches). He quickly informed the cabin crew, went to the airplane's lavatory and induced himself to vomit and get the glass out.
'I might have gulped the drink down if it was some other beverage'
"I might have gulped the drink down if it was some other beverage," the passenger, whose name has been kept private, told Korea JoongAng Daily, in Korean. "I sent a letter to Korean Air's CEO to alert him on the seriousness of the issue and demanded counter-measures."
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Upon investigating the drink served to him, Korean Air flight attendants discovered that the glass cup in which the iced coffee was served had been cracked. The passenger did not suffer any injuries and is not seeking compensation but requested that Korean Air make the incident public to inform travelers of something they need to watch out for.
Until the incident was picked up by local media outlets later in the month, Korean Air did not honor the request to publicize the incident but instead offered the traveler a voucher of 100,000 won (roughly $75 USD) to make up for any injuries or medical costs.
"Korean Air deeply regrets this incident and is investigating the matter further with our supplier," the airline told news outlets after the news went public. “The safety of our customers and employees is our top priority, and we will strengthen our processes to prevent against the reoccurrence of such an incident."
The incident came to nothing (but Korean Air is still in the news)
As no injuries were suffered, the incident did not cause too much of a stir with the South Korean public beyond discussion around how one should be careful and always do a quick examination before gulping food down.
Earlier this year, Korean Air made the news for another reason when it announced that it would be asking some passengers to step on a scale prior to boarding.
After instructions from the South Korean government to collect data about the weight of the plane, the airline asked travelers going out of Seoul’s two main airports to step onto a scale with all of their belongings for a set period in September.
This was a temporary initiative and not meant to judge individual passengers — the data was collected anonymously and shared into a larger data pool for regulators to know the weight of the overall aircraft. Earlier in 2023, Air New Zealand (ANZFF) -) also tried something similar despite some concerns that doing it this way could cause embarrassment to passengers.
