Cathay Pacific Airways apologises and launches investigation after airport worker caught throwing suitcases down stairs

The airline has been forced to apologise after the video emerged showing the airport ground worker throwing several cases down a set of stairs. The worker has now been removed from her position pending an investigation.

The short video clip of the ground worker mishandling passenger luggage was uploaded to the social media platform TikTok with the caption “Wonder why your suitcase is broken all the time?”. The video quickly went viral and Cathay Pacific was in the spotlight as the ground worker could be seen wearing one of the airline’s tabards beside a Cathay Pacific plane.

The aircraft that is seen in the video last flew on July 14 on a 13-hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. In the video the woman seems to have about half a dozen bags on stairs that are connected to the jet bridge, which need to get down to the apron.

Rather than walking them down, she throws them down the stairs and they go tumbling. Users on X, formerly Twitter, have shared their sympathy with the worker. One user wrote: “I hope Cathay usually has better equipment than a set of stairs for unloading luggage from a large plane.”

Another user posted: “I blame the airline and airport more than the worker. She had a job to do quickly, the airline gave her no proper solutions. If they're going to offload bags at that height, they need a ramp attached to the stairs.”

It’s not the first time airport workers have been caught carelessly handling luggage. Last year, footage from Miami Airport showed baggage handlers throwing a wheelchair down a ramp. The chair hit the bottom with such force that it was catapulted off the ramp.