SINGAPORE, May 29 — A Changi Airport ground staff member for China Southern Airlines who allegedly called a passenger a “dog” has been terminated after a video capturing a heated altercation between the two men went viral.

The airline has also issued a statement to clarify the situation and publicly apologised to the passenger via its official WeChat account on Saturday (May 27).

According to Chinese media reports, the traveller, surnamed Yuan, was checking in at Changi Airport for his flight to Chongqing in China last Tuesday (May 23) and had requested a seat change from the ground staff at the counter.

Yuan was told that an additional fee would be charged for seats near the emergency exit, but he claimed that no further explanation was given by the staff.

Seeking clarification, the man approached a different check-in counter to ask if any of the employees could speak Mandarin.

Despite overhearing staff members communicating amongst themselves in Mandarin, Yuan said that a male worker pretended to not understand the language and refused to entertain his queries.

He added that a female employee later passed the remark “Can’t you see that we’re busy?” in Mandarin. Yuan claims he was the only customer at the check-in counters at the time.

According to a report in The Paper, Yuan said he felt discriminated against for speaking in Mandarin. He asked for the male staff member’s name and employee number, and began recording their exchange on his mobile phone.

It was at this point that the employee purportedly verbally abused Yuan by calling him a “dog” in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

However, the alleged insults were not captured in the video clip of the incident shared by Yuan on social media.

Instead, the employee can be heard saying: “If you want to be a dog, I can treat you like a dog. It’s easy.”

Yuan retorts by returning the same insult to the staff. He then says: “Tell me clearly, who is a dog?”

The employee replies: “You keep interrupting when people are explaining something.”

Yuan insists: “Tell me who is a dog. Repeat what you said just now clearly.”

The staff member is then heard muttering under his breath: “You don’t even know how to be a human.”

Airline issues apology

Following the incident, China Southern Airlines Singapore released a statement on its official WeChat channel revealing that the staff member involved was an employee of a local ground service agent contracted by the airline.

It acknowledged that the language used was “grossly inappropriate” and added that it has since ordered its agent to bar the employee from serving its flights.

The airline also expressed its commitment to improve the service standards provided by external agencies.

Yuan’s widely-circulated video has sparked debates on multiple social media platforms, with Internet users picking sides.

Several netizens opined that the staff member may not be entirely to blame as the clip did not show what transpired between the two men before they began arguing.

Many believed that the passenger had done something to elicit such an aggressive reaction from the employee.

One Reddit user pointed out: “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

A TikTok user wrote: “Put (on) the full video. What caused this reaction? What happened before that could have provoked this?”

Others argued that the staff member’s conduct was unacceptable, regardless of what Yuan might have done.

A netizen argued: “Even if the customer is unreasonable, it must be dealt with professionally. You can ask him to leave. If he’s here to make trouble, don’t do his business.” — TODAY