Nut Rage Incident - Wikipedia

On December 5, 2014, Heather Cho (Korean name: Cho Hyun-ah; Korean: 조현아), a businesswoman and daughter of the then Korean Air chairman and CEO, Cho Yang-ho, boarded Korean Air Flight 086 registered as HL7627[2] at John F. Kennedy International Airport, destined for Incheon International Airport near Seoul.[3] Prior to takeoff, she was served macadamia nuts in a closed bag rather than on a plate.[4][5][6]

Upon being served the nuts in a bag, Cho rebuked flight attendant Kim Do-hee[6][7] and called over cabin crew chief Park Chang-jin[7] to complain because they were not served on a plate.[8] It was alleged that, under Cho's orders, the chief was forced to kneel down before her and beg for forgiveness. Cho repeatedly struck Park's knuckles with the edge of a digital tablet, and summarily dismissed him.[9] Cho ordered the chief to get off the plane, requiring it to taxi back to the airport's gate. The incident created a delay of approximately 20 minutes for the flight with 250 people on board. The chief allegedly initially agreed with executives to refrain from making public statements and disclosing the incident to officials, but when he and the flight attendant heard about Cho's apparent attempts to spread false rumors of sexual relations between the flight attendant and chief, he decided to file an official complaint.[5][6][10][11]

Korean Air issued an apology to passengers, but attempted to justify Cho's action, saying it was in accordance with her job of inspecting in-flight service and airplane safety. They apologized for the inconvenience.[5][11] Initially, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said that the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board was investigating the case.[5] An aggrieved first class passenger contacted the airline about the incident she observed, and received a model airplane and a calendar in the mail by way of apology.[12]