Lion Air pilot suspended for beating hotel clerk over ironing
- CCTV footage showed the pilot walk behind the reception desk, where he appears to complain about his shirt before striking the worker in the head
CCTV footage posted to Facebook and since viewed over 1 million times shows the unhappy pilot walk behind the reception desk, where he appears to complain about his shirt before striking the employee in the head several times. He is eventually led away by another man.
The budget airline said the pilot was suspended following the April 30 incident at a hotel in the city of Surabaya.
“Currently Lion Air is gathering data and other information needed for an investigation,” company spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said in a statement. “If the pilot is found guilty after the investigation, Lion Air will apply firm sanctions by dismissing him from the company.”
The video is the latest piece of bad publicity for Southeast Asia’s biggest airline, which has long suffered from a spotty safety record and an avalanche of complaints over shoddy service.