It seems the passenger had been flying Hong Kong – Okinawa on HK Express as a Cathay Pacific codeshare (UO842 / CX5842) as Typhoon Jangmi approached Japan, causing cancellations.

Here’s the rest of the chat. This looks like AI agent-assist prompt leakage, rather than the AI itself responding which is what most people seem to think.

This looks more like a human customer service agent using an internal “co-pilot” tool to write replies, and pasted their instructions into the customer WhatsApp channel instead of giving an actual response. When you see “Hi, co-pilot” and “when I say better…” this looks less like a system prompt and more like an instruction for an AI writing assistant.

• What’s awkward is that tool was being used to manufacture empathy: “acknowledge feelings,” “use I statements,” “positive tone,” “validating their reason.” The airline’s live human is looking to the ghost in the machine to create human emotional connection.
• And they’re doing this when what the customer needs is a concrete rebooking option. The instruction is focused on sounding empathetic, not resolving the problem, which seems like what AI is actually useful for.
• Even if a human sent it, they didn’t read it first. AI can make us faster and more efficient, but also more careless.
• Seeing the machine instruction behind the empathy causes the resulting message to fall flat. We respond to human emotion as though it’s genuine, but once it’s revealed to be manufactured it loses all force.

Cathay has promoted Microsoft Copilot adoption internally, with the usual pablum about “humans remain in the driving seat.” That’s why I think the framing of “Hi, co-pilot” makes sense that this was a drafting tool copy/paste. And everyone knows that co-pilot is terrible.

Airlines have been working on automated chatbots for decades. The first one I remember was Alaska’s Jenn which launched in 2008 to answer common questions. I never found it especially useful, but it could direct you to information that was otherwise available online. It was more ‘Ask Jeeves’ (phrase your queries in natural language) than AI.

Since then airlines have moved from FAQ bot to something closer to AI for both automated rebooking and agent assistance. American Airlines was explicit about use of AI in automated rebookings.

These chatbots seem to be mostly fine for getting basic information in the Jenn sense of taking natural language queries, searching for answers in a database, and returning simple responses to passengers. They’re not yet there for handling exception cases and acting as a true agent. It seems like the Frontier models are capable of this, but the actual airline implementations fall short. Are their tech teams just unable to work with top products? Or unwilling to spend the tokens (the best AI may be more expensive than offshored agents)?

Two years ago Air Canada was held liable for the bad information its chatbot gave out. The airline argued they weren’t responsible for it, but that didn’t fly. Of course, airline human agents give out bad information all the time. Getting call center recordings is very tough and they’re rarely held to account.

Credits: Cathay Pacific

The post Airlines Are Using AI To Manufacture Empathy Instead Of Solving Problems — One Passenger Was Sent The Prompt By Mistake first appeared on AircrewNews.com.

According to the airline, the aircraft encountered unexpected turbulence while cruising, causing a sudden and sharp drop in altitude. The turbulence was so intense that passengers and unsecured items inside the cabin were thrown around, creating panic and confusion on board.

Eyewitnesses described the situation as frightening and sudden, with no prior warning from the cockpit. At the time of the incident, cabin crew had already begun serving breakfast after switching on the cabin lights. Passengers said the seatbelt sign had not been activated before the turbulence struck, leaving many people unprepared.

One passenger, an Australian businessman travelling on the flight, said the aircraft “just dropped” without warning. He described how drinks, food trays, and personal items were thrown across the cabin, while some passengers who were not wearing seatbelts were lifted from their seats due to the force of the drop.

The passenger also reported that the turbulence occurred in two sudden jolts within a short span of time. The first drop caused immediate panic, and the second impact, occurring about 15–20 seconds later, worsened the situation as people who had tried to regain balance were again thrown around the cabin.

Cathay Pacific confirmed that six cabin crew members and four passengers were injured during the incident. Many of the injured were members of the cabin crew who were standing in the aisle serving meals when the turbulence struck, making them more vulnerable to being hit by service carts and falling objects.

After the aircraft landed safely in Hong Kong at around 6:45 am local time, medical teams were already waiting at the airport. Eight of the injured individuals were taken to nearby hospitals for further treatment and observation. The airline stated that medical assistance was provided immediately upon landing.

Despite the severity of the incident, the aircraft continued its journey to Hong Kong after encountering the turbulence, as there were no nearby diversion options at the time. Medical professionals onboard assisted injured passengers and crew members during the remainder of the flight.

Passengers also reported that the pilot later addressed the situation, explaining that the aircraft had likely entered a rapidly developing weather system, possibly a thunderstorm or lightning cell. The pilot mentioned that the weather disturbance appeared suddenly and was difficult to detect clearly on radar in the dark conditions.

Experts note that severe turbulence is one of the most unpredictable risks in modern aviation. Even advanced aircraft like the Airbus A350-900 are designed to withstand such conditions, but sudden air movements can still cause injuries if passengers or crew are not seated and secured with seatbelts.

The incident has once again highlighted the importance of wearing seatbelts while seated, even when the seatbelt sign is off. Aviation safety experts consistently advise passengers to keep their seatbelts fastened at all times during flight, as clear-air turbulence can occur without warning.

Cathay Pacific has not reported any technical issues with the aircraft and has assured that it is reviewing the incident in coordination with aviation authorities. Investigations into the weather conditions and flight path are expected to determine the exact cause and nature of the turbulence encounter.

Although the flight ended safely, the event has raised fresh concerns about increasing turbulence incidents in global aviation, which experts believe may be linked to changing weather patterns and stronger storm systems in certain regions.

Credits: Cathay Pacific

The post Cathay Pacific Plane Encounters Violent Turbulence, Injuring 10 Onboard first appeared on AircrewNews.com.