This is obviously an issue, and one wonders how something like this could happen. At the same time, I’m not sure what more the family wants…

Cathay Pacific serves three-year-old wine instead of water

Cathay Pacific has apologized over an incident that happened on April 24, 2025, on Cathay Pacific flight CX255, from Hong Kong (HKG) to London (LHR). On this flight, a couple were traveling with their three-year-old son in business class.

After the meal service, the toddler reportedly told his parents that the beverage he had just been served tasted sour. Upon inspecting the drink, the parents discovered that it was actually white wine that was served, and not the water that had been ordered.

The flight attendants promptly switched out the drinks, but didn’t provide immediate medical assistance. Following the parents’ insistence, a French doctor onboard checked the boy for symptoms, but identified that nothing has wrong.

The crew told the parents to “watch for symptoms” based on the doctor’s judgment, and to contact the airline after the flight. The parents weren’t okay with that resolution, so the crew helped the family contact emergency services company Medlink from onboard. It was still determined that nothing was wrong, but the parents are now in the process of “arranging comprehensive medical assessments with pediatric specialists.”

The airline has apologized for this mistake, and has offered the family a refund of the child’s ticket cost, plus upgrade vouchers for future flights. Cathay Pacific also claims to have conducted coaching with flight attendants, to reinforce the importance of checking drinks before serving them. Per the email that the airline sent the family:

We would like to extend our heartfelt apologies for our Cabin Crew member’s oversight serving wine to your son, instead of water by mistake.

We take this matter extremely seriously. It is our responsibility to ensure that all passenger requests are handled with care and accuracy, especially where the safety and comfort of young passengers are concerned. We deeply regret that this standard was not met in this instance.

The family isn’t happy with this outcome

The parents of the child are still angry at Cathay Pacific, as they haven’t received a direct apology from the cabin crew involved, and they also haven’t seen any proof of new safeguards that have been provided to prevent a similar situation in the future.

The family has filed complaints with multiple authorities, including the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department, the UK Civil Aviation Authority, the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office, and the Consumer Council. As the father explained, “if a flagship Asian carrier can miss such basic safeguards in business class, every traveling family is at risk,” and “this incident, especially given its potential impact on our son for the rest of his life, has caused our family tremendous emotional stress and anxiety.”

I’m of two minds on this incident. On the one hand, it’s kind of shocking that a flight attendant would accidentally serve a three-year-old wine instead of water. Like, how does that even happen? I know flight attendants are really busy and have a lot of things to pay attention to, but to pour something from a wine bottle into a glass and then hand it to a toddler? I don’t get it.

That being said, admittedly I’m no doctor, but I feel like this is being blown out of proportion. It sounds like the child had a sip of the wine, and didn’t drink more, because it was sour. The family thinks this could have an impact on the son for the rest of his life, and they’re arranging comprehensive medical assessments with pediatric specialists? Do I just suck at science, or does that seem like a bit much?

Credit to Cathay Pacific, the airline does seem to be taking this very seriously, taking responsibility for what has happened, and even refunding the ticket cost, and more, which you don’t see an airline often do.

Honestly, I’m not sure what other safeguards could possibly want the airline to implement? This shouldn’t happen, but, like, what more can realistically be done? It’s not like this is a frequent problem, and I imagine this is the only time this has happened in a very long time, when the airline carries tens of millions of passengers.

Bottom line

Cathay Pacific has accepted responsibility after a flight attendant accidentally served a three-year-old wine instead of water on a flight. Fortunately the child caught it pretty quickly, when he noticed that the drink tasted sour.

The airline took responsibility for what happened, refunded the ticket, provided upgrade vouchers, and promised to train flight attendants so this doesn’t happen again. The family isn’t happy with that resolution, though. While I totally agree that this shouldn’t have happened, it sounds to me like the airline has actually done a good job taking responsibility for the incident.

What do you make of this Cathay Pacific wine incident?