Cathay Pacific apologises after 3 year old was served white wine on its flight

A three-year-old boy was mistakenly served a glass of white wine on a Cathay Pacific flight on the night of April 24, prompting his parents to share the incident on social media.

The family was seated in a business class cabin on a flight from Hong Kong to London, said the boy’s mother, Ms Wong, reported media outlets.

After taking a sip of the alcoholic beverage – which the boy thought was water – he told his father, Mr Tsui, that it was sour. His parents then tried the drink and realised it was white wine.

They immediately alerted a flight attendant, who allegedly just apologised, took away the wine and served the child water.

Ms Wong raised the incident with another senior crew member, who subsequently found a French doctor on the flight to check on the boy. The doctor assured the mother that the boy displayed no symptoms from consuming alcohol and would be fine.

Recounting the incident on Xiaohongshu, Ms Wong expressed concern over potential long-term health issues from the incident.

“We understand that alcohol consumption in young children can have delayed neurological, developmental and physiological impacts that may not manifest immediately,” she said.

She added that they are arranging for medical assessments with paediatric specialists.

The airline apologised to the couple for the incident, and offered to refund the child’s ticket with three one-class upgrade vouchers and to cover the costs of medical check-ups.

In an e-mail to Ms Wong on April 26, the airline also noted that it had conducted immediate coaching for all crew members to reinforce the importance of checking orders before serving them.

Ms Wong said that despite the apology, the airline did not provide a proper account of the incident or address how it would prevent a similar incident from happening