Flying with a toddler can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you’re flying long distance. Keeping them entertained is a Herculean task. And then there’s the task of maintaining their schedules however you can. No one would blame you for needing to take the edge off with a glass of wine mid-flight. However, that’s not exactly what happened to one family while on a Cathay Pacific flight.
A mom claims her toddler was given a glass of wine with dinner. Now, she’s calling the airline out publicly, saying that she doesn’t feel that they did enough to make the situation better.
The child’s mom posted about the incident on a Chinese social media platform, Business Insider reported. She also contacted the South China Morning Post. Her family was traveling on April 24, 2025, on Flight 255 business class, from Hong Kong to London.
The mom, who was identified by the surname Wong, claimed that her 3-year-old son took a sip of what he believed to be water, but he said the drink was sour. So his father took a sip and discovered that the drink was in fact white wine.
When alerted, flight attendants quickly got the boy water. However, it wasn’t enough for the mom.
“During the whole process, there was a lack of care for my son,” she told SCMP. “They gave me the impression that they were trying to shirk responsibility.”
Business Insider reached out to the airline, and were told that the cabin crew called medical personnel aboard the flight. They also consulted a medical service on the ground and monitored the boy’s condition for the rest of the flight.
Cathay Pacific “sincerely apologises” for the incident. “We take this matter very seriously and have launched an internal review to ensure appropriate follow-up actions are implemented and goodwill is being offered,” it said in a statement. “We will continue to support and assist the family.”
