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UPDATED: Virgin faces international boycott over racism claims
The airline has been blasted on social media over claims that its cabin crew did nothing to assist a Chinese woman who was allegedly abused on a flight to Heathrow.
There have been calls on Facebook, Twitter and on China’s micro-blogging site Weibo for a boycott of the airline and for a member of its crew – who has been repeatedly named on social media – to be fired.
The alleged incident happened on flight VS 250 from Shanghai on March 1.
Afterwards Chinese passenger Liu Wei wrote to China’s aviation authority claiming that a British male sitting two rows behind her had called her a ‘Chinese pig’.
She claimed that when an argument ensued, a male member of the cabin crew threatened to remove her from the flight.
A copy of her letter, which was posted on Weibo, has attracted over 9.5 million views and shared over 33,000 times.
It has sparked dozens of abusive tweets aimed at the crew member named in the letter, with dozens more social media users calling for him to be fired.
However, Virgin issued a statement today saying that its crew members had done their best to resolve the situation.
It said: "We deeply regret the unpleasant experience our customer had on this flight. We have fully investigated this incident by speaking with those involved, fellow customers and the cabin crew present.
‘We understand that there was an altercation between two customers on board the flight, which resulted in both individuals becoming upset and distressed. Upon noticing the argument, our cabin crew did their best to resolve the situation for all customers, including the female customer and her male companion.
"We would like to reiterate that Virgin Atlantic takes a zero tolerance approach to racism."
The airline hasn’t confirmed whether the member of crew named on social media is still flying, saying it would be ‘inappropriate’ to comment on individual members of staff.
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Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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