Do They Serve Macadamia in Prison? Ex-Korean Air Exec Could Get 15 Years for 'Nut Rage'
Those were some expensive nuts. Heather Cho may face serious prison time for her nut rage incident. (Photo: AP)
She’s been fired, publicly humiliated by her father, and become the poster child of super-entitled rich kids the world over. Now it looks like former Korean Air executive Heather Cho may get a lot of time to ponder how stupid it was for her to delay a flight over a nut mishap.
A leading Korean attorney is telling The Associated Press that Cho could get up to 15 years in prison for her infamous “nut rage” freakout.
Cho was arrested last week for the December 5th incident, when she reportedly humiliated the flight crew of a Seoul-bound Korean Air flight about to take off from New York. She allegedly ordered the plane to return to the gate to remove a flight attendant after she was offered macadamia nuts in a bag instead of in a dish — a violation of airline procedures that, hopefully, she now realizes she probably should have let slide.
This macadamia nut incident has turned into a major PR headache for Korean Air — and a big legal headache too! (Photo: AP)
Cho has been in custody since her arrest last week on charges stemming from the incident. Korean Bar Association spokesman Park Jin Nyoung, tells AP that Cho faces a possible 10 years for allegedly forcing a flight to change its normal route (i.e., ordering the plane back to the gate).
Related: Flight Attendant Says Korean Air Exec Made Him Kneel After Nut Mishap
Cho could get an additional five years for the lesser charges: forcing the flight attendant off the plane; use of violence against flight crew (the flight attendant says Cho hit him with service manuals during her tirade — a claim she denies); and hindering a government probe.
That’s a grand total of 15 years, which probably works out to one year per macadamia nut that was in that infamous bag.
WATCH: Korean ‘Nut Rage’ Woman Detained
Cho’s father, the airline’s chairman, has fired her and forced her to publicly apologize for the incident (he also apologized for not raising her better). And Cho’s not the only one facing charges in the incident. Another Korean Air executive is accused of destroying evidence and covering up the incident. And a transport ministry official was indicted for allegedly leaking secrets about the investigation.
South Korean prosecutors are seriously investigating the incident and its alleged cover-up (hope they’re not flying Korean Air anytime soon). (Photo: AP)
Plus, prosecutors are also looking at the allegedly chummy relationship between Korean Air and transport officials, many of whom are ex-employees of the airline.
The incident has touched off its share of jokes and bizarre consequences (sales of macadamia nuts in South Korea have gone through the roof). But now that a wide-ranging criminal investigation is underway, it’s clear this one flight — which was only delayed for about 10 minutes — has become a super serious matter. Especially for Cho and her cohorts, who may soon learn the hard way that they don’t serve prison food on a dish.
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