Several days ago, I wrote about how popular aviation YouTuber Nonstop Dan had a horrible flight in Kuwait Airways first class, where he was threatened for filming. This first involved the purser, then the captain, then the ground staff, and then the police. The level of escalation here was just ridiculous.
How is the airline responding to all of this? I’ve gotta be honest, I was expecting the company to just double down and make the situation worse, as that’s all too common among some airlines (especially ones owned by governments, where no one wants to take accountability for failures). So there’s a fascinating update, as the response isn’t at all what I was expecting…
In this post:
Kuwait Airways issues genuine apology for incident
To start, for those who didn’t watch part one and two of this saga, see below (part one is the flight review, and part two is about the inflight incident).
This has now turned into a trilogy, with Dan providing an update regarding the communication he has received from the airline following his videos being published.
Anyway, shortly after uploading the video sharing his version of events, Dan received an email from the Kuwait Airways Chairman and President (this is clearly written by him and not a PR firm, based on the language, grammar, etc.):
I am deeply sorry for what happened to you on board one of our flights from Bangkok.
First, I would like to apologize for the unacceptable behavior of the flight crew chief on the flight, and for the misconduct of the airport staff.
I assure you that we at Kuwait Airways will not allow such an incident to pass without taking deterrent action against any of our employees who harm the company’s reputation.
Kuwait Airways has been serving our passengers for over 70 years, and we have never witnessed such misconduct toward our guests before.
Next, Dan received an email from a member of the royal family of Kuwait. While he can’t share it in full, he describes it as an “exceptional response,” where the person states he’s “extremely sorry about the unacceptable and unfortunate incident.”
Lastly, Dan received an official statement attributed to the Kuwait Airways Chairman and President (this is obviously a more “polished” message than the original one he received):
At Kuwait Airways, we hold passenger privacy and comfort as fundamental principles in our operations. Simultaneously, we genuinely appreciate the importance of transparent and open reviews from our passengers, as these reviews help us constantly improve our services.
We sincerely regret any distress or discomfort you experienced during your recent flight with us. While we neither confirm nor deny the specifics of the allegations, we fully acknowledge your concerns and have initiated a thorough investigation into the incident.
As Chairman, ensuring that every passenger feels respected and comfortable onboard is personally important to me. We recognize that clear communication around our policies regarding filming and passenger privacy is essential, and we will ensure these guidelines are clearly stated going forward. We also intend to communicate directly with you regarding the outcome of our investigation and the specific measures we’ll take to prevent such situations in the future.
Kudos to Kuwait Airway for how it’s handling this
Kuwait Airways deserves a lot of credit for how it’s handling this, and this incident actually makes me think more highly of the airline than I did before this entire incident.
It’s just far too common for airlines to become dismissive in these kinds of situations, and cite “security” to justify something, even if no actual policies were broken. But wow, what a response this is. First he received an unconditional apology from the head of the company.
Then there was a more “cleaned up” message, and perhaps the most surprising part is that the company promises to share updates about the outcome of its investigation, and what it will change in the future. And that says nothing of the message from a member of the royal family.
And by the way, big credit to Dan for his classiness here as well. He has refused a ticket refund and other compensation, and in his response to the Chairman, he added the following:
If I may make one request — it’s that some sympathy is extended to the purser involved. I would hate for his life or career to be negatively impacted due to a lack of training or preparedness in how to handle a situation like this. I hope he’ll be given a chance to learn and grow from this.
There are so many airlines that could learn a thing or two from Kuwait Airways here. For example, another popular YouTuber, Josh Cahill, is banned from Qatar Airways, after they didn’t like his reviews. Is it fair for the airline to think he’s annoying? Well, no comment.
But my gosh, don’t give the guy the privilege of being banned, because he loves it. He opens every one of his videos talking about how he’s proudly banned from Qatar Airways. I think that’s the prime example of corporate stubbornness, and of the Streisand effect. I know this happened under a previous CEO, but it really feels like that should be undone, because why give him the privilege of making such claims?
Bottom line
Kuwait Airways has responded to a negative viral YouTube video in the best way possible. The airline has acknowledged that what was witnessed was unacceptable, has promised to perform a full investigation, and has even committed to sharing an update on what the investigation determines, and what steps will be taken to prevent this in the future.
As much as the initial incident left me with a very negative impression of the airline, the response makes me think more highly of the airline than I did before all this started. Then again, that’s still not a very favorable impression, based on my own Kuwait Airways first class flight. 😉
What do you make of Kuwait Airways’ response to this incident?
I always start my contacts with anyone in Kuwait with , “ well, that’s not what the Emir told me just this morning!”
I hope these rogue employees enjoy their time being flogged and … beheaded?
Ben, I’m curious who your favorite aviation YouTubers are. Seems to be a heated debate on Dan and also Josh Cahill. Personally for me, I am a big fan of Simply Aviation, especially since they focus most on Economy class.
We should see the third part of the trilogy end. Ben flies to Cairo airport and everything is smooth.
I guess Dan doesn’t need a refund, given that his Wall Street daddy bankrolls him.
But it just goes to show what an entitled low-class (insert expletive of your choice) he is, saying basically 'I have lots of money and don't need a refund' when he could've gone with something along the lines of 'I don't think I could accept a refund in these circumstances, but I would be grateful if you could make a donation in my name to [CHARITY]'.
Would it be too much to ask what is the Kuwait Air policy on filming while flying, which is what set off this entire brouhaha? Or is it prohibited to address that question?
The whole point of the story is that no "policy" exists. The "purser" seemed to be making it up. Dan repeatedly asked for an explanation of the claimed "policy" and none was provided.
While Dan and Cahill are both entitled a-holes.
Dan does deserve some apology here.
Josh, he got an apology but still being a$$ so he deserves his lifetime ban.
Spirit and Frontier people are welcoming both of these entitled hypocrites with a closed fist.
Entitled? How?
Lucky for you to not know.
Other people have wasted actual time in their life watching these 2 entitled hypocrites and bunch of other cat videos and teens doing stupid stuff on TikTok.
Don't make the same mistake.
It's a good PR because they realized that Dan has almost 1 million subscribers. If for ordinary people like me with no YouTube channel, let alone 1 million subscribers, I highly doubt it that they would have responded at all. Qatar needs to learn from Kuwait Airways.
What if this was a Kuwait psyop?
I would've never cared about them if not for this incident. And now they've earned themselves tons of positive media from the attention.
Ben even claims Kuwait Airways has his respect now, more than before. For a small airline like this, tons of positive virality now.
I'm sincerely waiting for a Cahill or Dan x Egyptian government crossover.
I like Dan but he wrote that partially as a CYA insurance because chances are high that this purser will be either fired (at a minimum) or worse. He'll be very lucky if they just let him go but he's probably going to be catfood soon. Kuwait is not exactly a place where human rights are high on the agenda.
@ Stefan -- You might be right, but that's not my assumption. Clearly the purser in question was a "local" guy, and they comes with a lot of extra privileges. I imagine that a local male flight attendant would be reprimanded very differently than a female Filipino flight attendant, for example.
Nah I didn't have this impression at all from watching the three videos. And I've flown Kuwait Airways for years, they never had local pursers. Pilots yes, but not cabin crew. Probably another reason why they never said anything about the Captain in their letter. He's still going to get a good kicking, no matter who he is. I'm 99% sure the purser is a foreigner.
@ Stefan -- We must be flying very different Kuwait Airways flights, because all five flights I've taken on the airline have had multiple Kuwaiti male flight attendants, much like on Saudia.
lol Ben. Those werent kuwaitis. Take it from someone who's lived there. Kuwaitis dont do "menial" jobs, according to them.
Yeah I’d say most likely not Kuwaiti… in most cases, Egyptian, Lebanese or from NA. Either way, I hope Kuwaiti airways gives him another chance!
Would Kuwait Airways have responded like this had he not had a large social media following? Think you are being overly won over by their PR handling strategy - 99.9% of customers won't get anywhere near that level of response.
@ Ash -- No, they probably wouldn't have responded that well. But my point is that so many companies respond so poorly even when someone does have a large social media following, as we've repeatedly seen other airlines do in similar situations.