A female flight attendant working for Garuda Indonesia complained to her superiors over alleged sexual harassment from passengers flying from Jakarta to Yogyakarta on Wednesday (May 25).
An airline official confirmed the incident on Saturday, saying the behaviour against the flight attendant was unacceptable.
“We regret that the incident occurred. Our flight attendants serve passengers politely, but professionally. Their politeness should not be misunderstood,” Garuda Indonesia’s vice-president of corporate communications Benny S. Butarbutar told thejakartapost.com on Saturday.
Benny did not provide details about the incident, and also declined to mention the name of the flight attendant involved.
Reports on social media said the incident occurred when a flight attendant offered refreshments to a passenger, who said he wanted milk. Meanwhile, another passenger sitting next to the first passenger asked “the right or left milk”.
When the flight attendant left them, the passengers were laughing and involved in a conversation.
Benny said the cabin attendant reported the incident to the pilot and flight service manager. Soon after landing, the case was handled by aviation security and a Garuda Indonesia team in Yogyakarta.
“During the questioning, the flight attendant was accompanied by the pilot and the flight service manager and representatives of Garuda Indonesia in Yogyakarta,” Benny said, adding that the case was resolved after the passengers offered an apology.
