Boarding for Air China flight held up by flight attendant who went shopping: reports

Air China planes parked at Beijing International Airport. Boarding for one of the airline's flights from Seoul to Chongqing on Feb 21, 2015, was reportedly delayed due to a late flight attendant who went shopping. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG  
Air China planes parked at Beijing International Airport. Boarding for one of the airline's flights from Seoul to Chongqing on Feb 21, 2015, was reportedly delayed due to a late flight attendant who went shopping. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG  

SEOUL - A flight attendant who went shopping reportedly caused a delay in boarding for an Air China flight leaving Seoul for Chongqing.

A netizen by the surname Lee blogged about his experience on Feb 21 at Seoul's Incheon International Airport. He claimed that passengers of flight CA440 were kept waiting in front of the departure gate for five minutes past the scheduled boarding time.

When quizzed about the delay, a member of the airline's ground crew said not all flight crew members had arrived, according to reports in the Chinese media.

Mr Lee's Weibo post, which was accompanied by a photo of a female flight attendant clutching several shopping bags as she ran to the gate, went viral.

Air China's Chongqing branch initially said it may take action against the flight attendant.

But the airline later claimed she was back at work before the first passenger was ready to board, and that boarding had started one minute ahead of schedule.

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