Korean Air To Raise Refund Fees After K-pop Fan Incident

Following a recent incident involving a group of K-pop fans canceling their flight tickets right before takeoff, Korean Air announced on Tuesday, Dec. 18 that it will raise refund penalties.

The K-pop fans boarded a plane only to take pictures of a boy band on the flight, then demanded to get off before it departed and got refunds on their tickets, causing a costly delay for all on board the plane.

The three fans of K-pop band Wanna One boarded the Seoul-bound Korean Air flight in Hong Kong on Saturday, ignored flight attendants’ requests to be seated and instead took pictures of the 11-member band.

“The fact is there were passengers who falsely checked in on the flight to see celebrities,” a Korean Air official told Reuters.

Although the fans, in their 20s, all got got refunds on their tickets, excluding some penalties, the rest of the 360 passengers had to disembark and go through security screening again, delaying the flight by almost an hour.

The company said all passengers have to go through screening again if some passengers get off voluntarily, the company said in a statement.

As a result of this incident, the airline will begin charging an additional 200,000 won (US$177) to passengers who cancel international flights starting Jan 1.

By: Maytinee Kramer