A Chinese woman who refused to stow her designer handbag under the seat in front of her when asked by a flight attendant caused a one-hour delay and had to be escorted off the plane.
The incident reached 4 million views on Douyin and sparked heated discussions after a passenger posted a video clip of it.
The passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, said the woman, who was sitting in economy class, insisted on placing her Louis Vuitton handbag next to her rather than under the seat in front of her.
The August 10 flight from an airport in the city of Chongqing in southwest China was already ready for departure and had to return to the gate.
Passengers applauded as police escorted the woman off the plane.
The incident caused a one-hour delay and affected the departure times of subsequent flights.
A Louis Vuitton handbag costs about $3,000 in China, and an economy-class ticket for a flight from Chongqing to northern China’s Hebei province operated by China Express Airlines costs 800 yuan ($110).
The airline did not respond to questions about the case and did not disclose the outcome even after speaking to the passenger. The identity of the passenger in question was not disclosed.
The incident has sparked a heated debate on mainland social media.
Some people criticized the passenger, while others said the flight attendant may have been overzealous in performing her duties.
“The bag was worth more to her than her life,” said one person on Weibo.
“The flight attendant could have offered her a bag to put her purse in. Is it really necessary to waste an hour and throw her off the plane?” someone wrote on Douyin.
Another online observer said she saw many economy class passengers placing their small bags on the seat during takeoff and not being asked to take them out.
“The flight attendant didn’t insist on this rule for nothing. The woman should value her own safety and that of the other passengers more than the bag,” said another.
Passengers are required to stow bags under the seat in front of them so that they are not thrown through the air during turbulence and could thus injure people or block escape routes.
The luxury group LVMH, which owns brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, reported a 13 percent drop in sales in Asia (excluding Japan) in the first half of this year.
However, the group’s chief financial officer, Jean-Jacques Guiony, said that “Chinese customers are holding up quite well” as many of them travel to Japan to buy luxury goods, where they are currently cheaper due to the weak yen.
