Flight Attendant Suspended For Eating Leftover Passengers Meals, Video Shows

A flight attendant was suspended after she was filmed eating leftover meals on a flight heading to China. The video went viral with over 50,000 views as of Monday afternoon.

Cellphone video shows a flight attendant aboard an Urumqi Air flight eating from one of the 15 different food trays lined up in the catering section of the cabin. The airline said that the meals were leftovers, untouched by passengers.

The video took place about 45 minutes after the flight arrived at the Yinchuan Airport on Nov. 30 in China.

The airline claimed that the flight attendant filmed the act for "entertainment purposes." However, she was suspended from her job while officials issued an investigation into the incident.

Urumqi Air released a statement regarding the flight attendant’s behavior on Thursday, The Independent reported.

"We confirmed that the air hostess shown in the video to be one of our employees at Urumqi Air. The flight attendant had been handling the leftovers accordingly and had seriously violated our company's regulations," the statement read.

The airline also cited their policy, which apparently aims to recycle any residual food on the flight.

Just about every airline company in the United States has a policy on in-flight meals. Most airlines stock extra food to keep customers satisfied, which oftentimes leads to an abundance of meals.

"Our fear of not serving all passengers results in an increased load, which increases waste," Peter Lawrance, head chef of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) told CNN in July. "Airlines are often doing a best guess of how much passengers will buy or consume."

Airlines produced 5.2 million tons of garbage in 2016 and will produce over 10 million tons every year by 2030, according to the International Air Transport Association.