In case you’ve missed it, KLM has been in the limelight this week for a handwritten note on a napkin that designated a lavatory for use only by the crew.
But here’s the twist: this happened on a flight from Amsterdam to Seoul and the note was only written in Korean.
When confronted, the crew defended its actions on the basis of coronavirus concerns and claimed it meant to write the note in English as well.
Let’s Deal With The R-Word First…
Check out the comments over at One Mile at a Time for a fascinating discussion on whether the crew was “racist” for posting that note in Korean only.
The crew claims that it meant to post the sign in English as well and just forgot. But a crew member also demanded the Korean passenger who brought the matter to his attention delete the picture above. You can watch what happened here.
I wasn’t there. I also don’t know the genuine intention of the crew members. I’ve flown KLM many times and always encountered excellent crews.
But here’s what I will say: imagine if this had been a Korean Air flight to Seoul and the note was only written in English. Imagine if this had been an Air France flight from Frankfurt to Paris and the note was only written in German. Imagine if this was a Delta flight to Sao Paulo and the note was only written in Portuguese.
I’d feel singled-out and hurt. Call me a snowflake if you will…but I do empathize with the Korean passenger, especially as people continue to link the coronavirus to “Asia” (as if it is one homogenous place).
That said, I’m not excusing his unreasonable demands in response to the sign (again, watch the video) and circumstantial racism does not necessarily mean actual racism.
KLM Offers An Apology, Sort Of
With outrage growing and major South Korean media outlets running with the story, KLM staged a press conference at the Four Seasons hotel today to offer a formal apology. That included bowing to the audience, a sign of respect.
Guillaume Glass, KLM’s General Manager of Japan-Korea-New Caledonia, spoke to the press. Here are some quotes:
“We would like to express our sincere apologies to all passengers who were offended by the operation and the announcements of the crew on the lavatories.
…
“This is a human mistake, but we don’t take it lightly, and again we apologize for it.
“We take the allegations that we have discriminated against a part of our customers very seriously. We are deeply sorry that this was viewed as discrimination, which was absolutely not the intention of the crew.
“The issue is under investigation internally. To prevent this from happening again, our executive vice president for inflight services, will take all necessary measures.
“The members of that particular crew will talk with inflight senior management when they will arrive in Amsterdam.
“In addition, we have reminded yesterday to all KLM crew worldwide that it is not allowed to reserve lavatories for the sole usage of the crew, and we will remind this at every crew briefing prior to the flights departing or arriving in Seoul.
“We would like to take the opportunity to apologize to the passengers who have been inconvenienced onboard this KLM aircraft, and to the people of the Republic of Korea, who have been offended by the incident.”
Note that despite the great optics, this really comes down to a “sorry if you were offended” non-apology. KLM defended its crew, claiming there was no ill intentions. It also made clear that lavatories can no longer be reserved exclusively for crew member use.
CONCLUSION
This issue will blow over, but the damage is done…even if no harm was intended in the first place. It’s a reminder that our actions, even if unintended, can have very serious consequences.
Do you view KLM’s apology as sincere?
It is clearly racism. The below link is the recorded Audio file on the KLM’s flight to Seoul.
https://youtu.be/2pRKksA2yv8
The South Korean passenger is the racist here, because she refused to believe a white person. I bet if a Korean (or other non-white ) purser explained the situation to her it was ”just a mistake” and no racism. Shame on you South Korea! hypocrites.
What I found interesting about the apology was that KLM management explicitly stated that there was NO policy for a crew-only bathroom. That makes the crew’s decision-making highly suspect, IMO.
Also, I noticed a typo. I think you meant “empathize” not “emphasize”.
I don’t think the apology is sincere and i think it came too late. Also, I think people in general are just ignorant. Been reading about Asian restaurants all over the world that are suffering now because people are afraid to go and catch the virus. Or people who just lump Koreans in with Chinese and every other Asian, all to be avoided and quarantined due to contagion fears. As the comments on the various blog posts will affirm, racism and discrimination is so ingrained in so many people…a half hearted apology will change nothing, nor would any company-wide emails to remind employees to be culturally sensitive.
Racism, without a shadow of doubt. The “crew only” lavatory is the kind of uppity arrogance to be expected from KLM crew.
The apology came too late. Racist airline KLM, shame on you! You don’t provide basic education to your staff?! I am now afraid of taking KLM. I will not take on KLM anymore because I don’t personally want to encounter any type of discrimination against race.
Racist klm employees realized they’re in trouble and started getting mad at the lady that called them out.
People in Europe are not so obsessed with race compared to some other places where history on racial policies is still quite recent.
What KLM did was clumsy. And reserving a toilet for crew is nonsense.
But not intentionally racist.
Anyway I will continue to fly KLM where routing and price makes sense to do so. My experience with KLM is quite ok and the BC seats are excellent for a good nite sleep.
The South Korean passenger is the racist here because she didn’t trust the white purser. And the note was written by a Korean FA. Seoul might face some problems of how they facilitate this absurd witch hunt and how treated the office employees demanding -or even forcing- to they make their excuses.
I flew many years for Northwest Airlines, where it was quite normal on the 747 and DC10 to block a lavatory for crew. There was no sign, we just knew by agreement which lav was locked and we could unlock it using our cockpit key to move the OCCUPIED sign to VACANT. It was always a lavatory at the very back, and always one next to several others that the passengers could use. Mostly this was done because a trip to the lavatory often had to be made quickly so as to not delay the service; we didn’t have time to wait in line. Also, we crew kept the lavatory spotless – something passengers didn’t always do. Sometimes a crew member would post a sign on the door saying OUT OF ORDER. I don’t know what NWA management would have said about this; it was something that was discreetly done and the flight’s destination or origin, and the racial makeup of the passengers had nothing whatsoever to do with it.
Here is the gist of this controversy: when there is a lavatory sign, “Crew Only”, written ONLY in Korean, who do you think can use this toilet and who CANNOT? (esp. the door was actually unlocked)
This is a subtle tactic to ban this target group of people from using the toilet in a covert way in a situation that there are multi nationalities. Human history has called this “discrimination” and we all humanity has evolved to agree not to tolerate because this causes unequal treatment against a certain group of people.
Unfortunately for the KLM and some racist foreigners trying hard to gaslight, Koreans were smart enough to notice this subtle racial discrimination tactic.
Look, I agree this was a mistake that should not have happened. But I’m sure that if the purser was Korean nobody shouted racism. The fact the Korean passenger did not believe the WHITE purser is actually the very subtile racist thing here. Shame on you South Koreans !
Dear KLM,
We, Koreans are deeply sorry that we were smart enough to notice such a subtle racial discrimination tactic, recently leveraged by the KLM. Furthermore, due to our lack of stupidity, we failed to be gaslighted by some, including KLM management and crew, who tried hard to minimise this racial discrimination into just ‘mistake’. Overall, we have not been cooperative enough in your attempts to cover this malpractice. It is all because of our lack of dumbness. Our sincere apology.
Please stop being a hypocrite, look on youtube about racism in South Korea and other parts in Asia against whites and Latin-Americans. Racism isn’t a white person thing only, stop being so narrow minded. What did occur on the KLM was a mistake, a Korean fa wrote a note in Korean only, after that they forgot English. The fact a white purser wasn’t believed when she told about this tells a lot of how South Koreans think of white people. I think you South Koreans are the racists here. And I think KLM and Dutch gov should demand excuses and compensation from South Korea. Believe me, people in Netherlands now see South Koreans as easily triggered liars, they make fun of you people. Well Done!
Oh and btw , duh of course the press conference was corporate acting. You really think they would make serious excuses to you racist, white hating (because whites cannot be trust) Koreans? You think Dutch are stupid enough to fall in your fake racism claims based on assumptions? I think not.
Big deal. People are far too sensitive these days.
All people who don’t believe it was a honest mistake are paranoid of white people, I suspect THEY are racist! And I think that filming woman was very rude and demanding, no wonder the purser got angry. How the airline office employees were treated is a shame, look how they were forced to bow and make excuses in a intimidating setting.. it says a lot of how basic human rights are seen in South Korea.
Let me tell one thing: most Dutch now give South Korea the finger. So better not come here anymore you paranoid liars. I hope Korean Air gets banned from Amsterdam and kicked out of Skyteam. I’m sure this story hasn’t ended and we won’t forget what you did Seoul, never.
The South Korean passenger is the racist here, because she refused to believe a white person. I bet if a Korean (or other non-white ) purser explained to her it was ”just a mistake” and no racism.