Nut rage incident

The nut rage incident, colloquially referred to as "nutgate", (Korean: 땅콩 회항, romanized: Ttangkong hoehang) was an air rage incident that occurred on December 5, 2014, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City onboard Korean Air Flight 086. Heather Cho (Korean name: Cho Hyun-ah; later changed to Cho Seung-yeon), Korean Air vice president and daughter of Korean Air CEO Cho Yang-ho, dissatisfied with the way a flight attendant served nuts on the plane, ordered the aircraft to return to the gate before takeoff.

All first class passengers, including Cho, were given nuts bagged in their original packaging—in keeping with the airline's procedures; however, Cho had expected them to be served on a plate in first class. She questioned the cabin crew chief about the standard procedure of serving the nuts. After a heated confrontation, Cho assaulted him and ordered him off the plane, requiring a return to the gate and delaying the flight about 20 minutes.

When the incident became public, Cho and Korean Air were heavily criticized, and in the aftermath, Cho resigned from one of her several executive positions at Korean Air. She was subsequently found guilty in a South Korean court of obstructing aviation safety and given a twelve-month prison sentence, of which she served five months. The flight attendant and cabin crew chief had returned to their positions by April 2016.