Korean Air chairman's daughter forces plane delay after 'nut rage'

The daughter of Korean Air's chairman is under investigation after delaying an outbound plane over the way she was served nuts in first class.

Heather Cho, a vice-president of the airline, reportedly screamed at a flight attendant on a New York-to-Seoul flight last Friday for not asking her if she would like a preflight snack of macadamia nuts and then for serving the nuts in a paper bag instead of on a plate.

Ms Cho demanded the attendant be removed from the plane, which had already left the gate at New York's JFK Airport for takeoff, forcing it to turn back to the terminal, Korea Times reports.

Korean Air said that checking service standards was part of Ms Cho's job and that she had consulted the pilot in her decision.

But South Korean transport authorities are investigating whether Ms Cho's actions infringed aviation law.

"Even though she is senior vice president at the company, she was a passenger at that time, so she had to behave and be treated as a passenger," a transport ministry official told reporters.

Ms Cho, 40, is daughter of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang Ho.