A WestJet passenger, Charlet Chung, recorded her tense interaction with a flight attendant after allegedly being insulted by another passenger. Charlet claimed that the flight attendant, identified as Tricia, threatened to remove her from the plane and have her arrested.
In a video posted to her TikTok account, Charlet shared the “most distressing, dehumanizing experience [she’s] ever had on a plane.”
Problems began when a passenger seated behind her started “continuously hitting and pushing [her] seat for over 20 minutes.” When the mother turned around, the man reportedly told her to “f**k off.”
A flight attendant “relentlessly bullied” a passenger and threatened to have her removed from a WestJet plane following a conflict with another passenger
Image credits: Justin Hu
When Charlet informed Tricia about the insult, she was allegedly forced to move to a different seat, despite having paid for the one she was in.
The flight attendant also threatened to offboard her and arrest her upon landing.
Charlet changed seats and said she suffered “relentless bullying” from the flight attendants during the remainder of the 4.5-hour flight from Winnipeg, Canada, to Los Angeles, USA.
“The most distressing part was not being able to stop them from talking to/harassing me while the passenger who verbally accosted me was free to do as he pleased and was fully protected,” she wrote.
Charlet accused the Canadian airline crew of failing to address the issue fairly, protecting the man who “harassed her” while subjecting her to a “degrading, isolating” experience after she sought their help.
In the video, the voice actress is shown sitting in her new seat while being told she could be removed from the flight.
Tricia accused the mother of initiating the conflict with the man and cursing at him, rather than the other way around, stating that it’s “illegal to be belligerent and unruly” on a plane.
“The captain is aware of what’s going on right now. I didn’t see what happened. I don’t know, but I don’t want you to be using that language again,” the flight attendant told the irate passenger, adding, “We could offload you if you keep saying those words.”
Charlet Chung sought help after a man seated behind her allegedly kicked her seat for over twenty minutes and insulted her when she turned around
When Charlet asked if the other passenger “would be offered the same situation,” Tricia responded, “He seems to be compliant right now. I didn’t hear anything.”
The video shows Tricia speaking with the man in question. An overlay text reads, “As evident by the body language, Tricia does not admonish the man like she did to me. In contrast, he actually touches Tricia’s arm.”
The WestJet worker can then be heard telling Charlet that, during her conversation with the man, he told her he was just trying to put something under his seat.
Charlet said the flight attendant accused her of insulting the man and subjected her to the “most distressing, dehumanizing experience”
Charlet, who is Asian American, alleged that the flight attendant’s treatment of her was “discriminatory” and claimed that Tricia’s “bias was showing.”
Noting she was being recorded, Tricia allegedly asked Charlet, “Why are you causing more problems?” and blocked her from going to the bathroom.
According to the mother, the feud turned other crew members against her, including a separate flight attendant who allegedly “spilled water she over-poured over the edge of my cup and aggressively handed me the water, which continued to spill on its way to my hand.”
The viral clip, which has been viewed by over 6.6 million users since it was shared on Sunday (November 10), ends with Charlet being served papers by another flight attendant “explaining [her] potential arrest.”
The flight attendant, identified as Tricia, can be heard telling the woman she could be offboarded “if she kept saying those words”
@chihyechung See my full statement and account on my next post. This is @WestJet flight attendant Tricia. She and her crew threatened to offload and arrest me 3 times from the plane after I was cursed at by another passenger. What ensues for the next 4.5 hours was me being forced to move seats, then being isolated and harassed for the entire duration of this horrific flight. In almost 200 flights I’ve taken in the past 8 years, this Westjet crew and 2 passengers put me through the most distressing, dehumanizing experience I’ve ever had on a plane. This is the only footage I had because I was in fear. During the most aggressive moments, like when they were literally yelling at me, I was in shock and was too scared to film. What happened: During boarding, the man you see in the video was continuously hitting and pushing my seat for over 20 min. I’m in 1A and he is in 2A in back of me. I finally peeked between the seats to see what was going on but didn’t say a word and he spews out,“Oh just chill (then) FU*K OFF”. I responded by saying,“Excuse me? Did you just tell me to fu*k off?”Tricia comes over from the hallway to see what’s going on and I inform her about the man(thinking she would help me)Next thing I know, I’m being threatened to be offboarded and later, arrested. This was a 4.5hr flight of incessant abuse by the crew. The flight attendants’ relentless bullying was an agonizing experience. I was trapped. The most distressing part was not being able to stop them from talking to/harassing me while the passenger who verbally accosted me was free to do as he pleased and was fully protected. The panic attacks and flashbacks of feeling trapped and helpless on the plane and experiencing the PTSD from this aggressive crew and 2 passengers have not stopped. I have not been able to focus on anything since escaping this flight. @Westjet “Is this what you stand for?” Protect the man (who harassed me), put him on an untouchable pedestal then put me through a degrading, isolating experience for speaking up and asking for help as the victim? I will always stand up for myself (and others who may not have same voice I have) and I will not be silenced. Period. #westjet ♬ original sound – Charlet
It’s unclear if Charlet encountered any issues with the police upon landing. The voice actress has since lodged a complaint with WestJet, as she shared in a follow-up video.
Charlet said she’s still dealing with the “mental distress and physical and emotional ramifications from this traumatizing experience.”
Charlet also alleged unfair treatment from other crew members, including the pilots
@chihyechung The fact is it was the entire crew who participated in my mistreatment. I only really have footage of Tricia but that’s only because I had the most interaction with her but there was 1 flight attendant whose aggression far surpassed Tricia’s – no footage because she was aggressive and I wasn’t sure what she would do. Video: This flight attendant was mainly in the back, she was the most humane to me yet was still hostile. When I snuck to the back of the plane to look for a passenger who may let me borrow a pen (so I can write my “please help me note” to a fellow passenger) I asked this flight attendant for water. There were 2 pilots. I do not know if one of them is really named John. But I had to do my due diligence and ask. I want to share an accurate picture of the flight as the responsibility falls on everyone who was involved. Not 1 crew member was safe. #westjet @WestJet ♬ original sound – Charlet
She continued: “The panic attacks and flashbacks of feeling trapped and helpless on the plane and experiencing the PTSD from this gang of aggressive crew and 2 passengers [the man and his wife] have not stopped,” the mom wrote.
“Micro and macro aggressions happen all the time to us and I don’t want this to happen to someone again. I don’t want my Asian-American kids to think this is acceptable or normal in any way and grow up in a world where we are afraid to stand up for ourselves.”
Before landing, Charlet was given a note with examples of interference and instructions explaining her “potential arrest”
In a separate post, the California resident shared screenshots from Reddit users claiming to have experienced issues with Tricia in the past and alleging she had threatened to offboard them.
Bored Panda has contacted WestJet for comment.
“That flight attendant needs to be reprimanded seriously,” one netizen wrote
