Hi Flying Flight Attendents!
Do you remember the song ‘EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING?” A 70′s classic indeed. I was just reading an article that Flight Attendants in Hong Kong are now required to master a form of Gung Fu (which the proper name for Kung fu by the way), practiced by the legendary Bruce Lee, among others, according to the South China Morning Post to deal with unruly passengers. No, that’s not the synopsis for Jet Li’s newest film; it’s the headline to an article I came across.
Hong Kong Airlines has required all of their fly guys and gals to master this style of Gung Fu to deal with uncooperative passengers. An attendant even claims it came in handy when she had to tend to a drunken passenger, I wonder how that ended.
I guess it’s much easier to roundhouse kick a disruptive passenger in mid air than it would be to have them removed (at 30 thousand feet). But unruly and disruptive are relative terms. When is it alright to bring out the Gung Fu? When a passenger request one too many bags of peanuts? I like this idea personally, not only is good for the Attendants be in some sort of shape, it actually will act as a deterrent for an individual who might cross the line. My suggestion to you is to brush up on your Bruce Lee films for your next flight on Hong Kong Airlines and don’t forget to mind your peas and Q’s!
WBLK Intern Terri Polk contributed to this article.