Several years ago, Korean Air made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Korean Air executive Heather Cho was served macadamia nuts on a first class flight from New York to Seoul Incheon. These were served to her in a plastic bag, rather than in a ramekin. Ms. Cho was working as Head of Inflight Service at the time.
She ordered the plane be turned around as a result.
There was huge public outcry about the executive’s actions, especially in Korea, as it reflected much of the class divide that exists between the “ruling families” of the country, and everyone else.
Ms. Cho ended up being forced to resign shortly after. She was also jailed in Korea for her actions, but then released.
SriLankan Airlines
The BBC is reporting that the President of Sri Lanka (the country, not the airline), Maithripala Sirisena has complained about the nuts served to him on a SriLankan flight from Kathmandu to Colombo last week.
Speaking to a group of farmers in Southern Sri Lanka, he said of the flight:
“When I returned from Nepal, they served some cashew nuts on the plane [that], let alone humans, even dogs can’t eat, who approves these things? Who approved the cashew? Who is responsible for this?”
Ben flew SriLankan on a short flight a few years ago from Colombo to Male and had a very favourable experience. He was also served cashew nuts (pictured below) but did not note anything about the cashews not being fit for human consumption!
Bottom line
While I’m sure this will be brought to the attention of the head of catering at SriLankan and probably resolved, the airline has massive debt issues, so has much bigger issues to sort out than the quality of their cashew nuts.
I’ve flown SriLankan in economy and was served some sort of nuts that were perfectly edible, though forgettable.
I know that nuts do cause significant problems for any passengers with severe nut allergies, so in the scheme of things, the two ‘#Nutgate’ issues do pale in comparison!
Have you ever been served nuts that were unfit for human consumption?
It seems he was embarrassed by the low quality of cashews served by the Airline bearing the name of a Country that produces excellent cashews. I assume the nuts were sourced elsewhere and were really low quality.
This is common politics, a government agent becomes aware that tourists are not getting a fair deal and it reflects poorly on the nation. A similar situation happened decades ago when a member of the israeli parliament...
It seems he was embarrassed by the low quality of cashews served by the Airline bearing the name of a Country that produces excellent cashews. I assume the nuts were sourced elsewhere and were really low quality.
This is common politics, a government agent becomes aware that tourists are not getting a fair deal and it reflects poorly on the nation. A similar situation happened decades ago when a member of the israeli parliament stopped for a drink in the Lobby of a Jerusalem hotel and was shocked at the prices tourists were being charged.
And he was telling to those farmers who will hardly have chance to fly and verify the claim of president and president can blaim airline and get favor of people by popularizing idea of govt controlled entities
Note - govt do not control srilankan airlines anymore
CLICK BAIT!!!!!
Remember the time when the seat was broken, the IFE was broken and you complain??
KE 'nut rage' wasn't about complaining.
The President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena DID NOT FORCE THE CREW TO BEG FOR FORGIVENESS, nor did he SLAP A FLIGHT CREW, nor did he ORDER THE PLANE BACK TO THE GATE TO KICK THE CREW OFF THE FLIGHT.
So no, this is not even peanuts (no pun intended) compared...
CLICK BAIT!!!!!
Remember the time when the seat was broken, the IFE was broken and you complain??
KE 'nut rage' wasn't about complaining.
The President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena DID NOT FORCE THE CREW TO BEG FOR FORGIVENESS, nor did he SLAP A FLIGHT CREW, nor did he ORDER THE PLANE BACK TO THE GATE TO KICK THE CREW OFF THE FLIGHT.
So no, this is not even peanuts (no pun intended) compared to the KE nut rage. And I thought @lucky was the only one that likes these click baits.
Priorities! Ul is insolvent and has to receive regular cash infusions and he is worried about his NUTS? Perhaps UL needs to adopt N American catering standards and not serve anything? Voila! Nut complaints gone.
Presidents complaining about any features of their national airlines is airline news; as long as there are no skymarshals forcing people to read James's blogs, I think he can write what he wants. Plus, the President of Sri Lanka is a major player in South Asia as well as in many other respects; this is news for that reason as well. And contrary to Colin, I think rural farmers would care, because the quality of...
Presidents complaining about any features of their national airlines is airline news; as long as there are no skymarshals forcing people to read James's blogs, I think he can write what he wants. Plus, the President of Sri Lanka is a major player in South Asia as well as in many other respects; this is news for that reason as well. And contrary to Colin, I think rural farmers would care, because the quality of their products in such a setting is of vital concern to them. (There is relatively little envy culture in Sri Lanka, and the idea that Presidents need to put on frugality shows occasionally does not void the understanding that Presidents should fly F, which I agree with). That said, I am a cashew snob and don't like older, prepackaged ones; but in the end, I find the paucity of hazelnuts onboard due to the hazelnut crisis much worse.
In all fairness, Sri Lankan cashews are exceptional and maybe they were sub par Brazillian or Indian cashews?
I’m sure the rural farmers were very sympathetic! Getting poor quality nuts served in business/first class is a very common-man problem.
@SS Totally agree.
Agree, not the best post ever
If the President of Srilanka is complaining about the cashew nuts it should be taken seriously as Srilanka is famous for its cashew nuts. Hence it is expected of the country’s national airline to serve the best quality cashew nuts.
@Kent Miller - I know right! If only the US president didn't fly private then he could tweet about the food on US airlines and hopefully make a change.
He's nuts.
Wow - slow news day on OMAAT?
I am consistently served food on board most European and American airlines with food which is unfit for dog/human consumption.
Why is this a post? And nut-gate part 2 is so misleading. Sheesh, click bait.
If I'm starving, I'd gladly eat those cashew nuts onboard SriLankan Airlines (regardless if the president states the nuts are unfit for dog/human consumption.)
Sure... its just a nuts. Your colleagues eaten those. No problem. Do you trace the source of the news to determine whether the nuts served to the president is edible? If not, imagine what would they serve to common people.
Well, your perspective is very... very... uhm... buzzfeed quality...