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CY Leung left luggage saga
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Members of Democratic Party staged a protest outside the Central Government Office in April against CY Leung allegedly pressuring airport staff in bag row . Photo: Nora Tam

Legal bid re-ignites airport favouritism row over Hong Kong leader and the bag his daughter left behind

Trio of flight attendants mount court challenge claiming security rules were breached to please city’s top family

Three flight attendants are making a legal bid set to reignite the favouritism row which engulfed Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his family over a bag his daughter left behind at the city’s airport.

The trio of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines flight attendants want to overturn a ruling by the Airport Authority that security was not breached in March, when a bag the leader’s daughter left at check-in was taken to a boarding gate.

In a High Court writ filed on Friday, flight attendants Law ­Mei-mei, Cheng Lai-chu and Yiu Wing-shan make the claims in a judicial review application over the ­incident at Hong Kong International Airport between the night of March 27 and the early hours of the next day.

Leung and his wife Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee were ­accused of pressuring airport staff to deliver the bag to their daughter, Leung Chun-yan.

Leung was said to have told staff to address him as “Chief Executive Leung”, which he denied.

The luggage was screened unaccompanied by Chung-yan, before it was delivered to her, prompting questions whether security had been breached.

Subsequently, the authority said in a report that while the bag did not go through the usual two-tier examination, it was adequately screened. The presence of Chung-yan, the authority said, was only required for the second-tier check. The bag had passed the first tier.

However, the flight attendants’ writ contends the authority should comply with the Hong Kong Aviation Security Programme which the government drafted under its legal obligation. It states: “All screening of cabin baggage shall be conducted in the presence of the passenger.”

The three flight attendants argued the clause covered both tiers of the screening process and asked the court to declare the ­exception for Chung-yan’s bag “illegal” and “procedurally improper”.

Commenting on the case, Cheng, a member of the Hong Kong Cabin Crew Federation, ­accused the authority of deviating from the standard protocols, and that the alleged breach could ­endanger the safety of flight attendants and pilots.

General secretary of the federation Carol Ng Man-yee said the authority’s report cited the clause which required all screening to be accompanied by the passenger. “So on what basis did the authority not execute it on the night?” she asked.

The report, released on April 25, said Chung-yan’s mother “appeared upset” and talked of delivering the bag to the boarding gate herself. It dismissed any security breaches, saying it was a courtesy delivery, which had happened 517 times between March 2015 and March this year.

A spokesman from the Airport Authority said the body had already produced a detailed report, which had confirmed there had not been any security breaches.

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