'I didn't accept any apology from her, she's lying': Passenger who asked woman on AirAsia flight to lower her voice

Following the viral Apr. 22 incident where a woman caused a scene on an AirAsia flight from Chongqing to Kuala Lumpur, a few passengers and the woman herself have posted videos giving their side of the story.

Now, the passenger involved in the verbal altercation with the woman, allegedly surnamed Lee, that triggered the cabin crew's intervention has spoken up.

Sunny Yau, a Malaysian woman, gave an interview on Apr. 28, sharing what happened on the plane that day from her perspective.

Yau's account of the altercation

The AirAsia flight was reportedly scheduled to take off from Chongqing at around 2:10am, but eventually departed at 3:47am following the delay.

When it was close to 2am, Yau learnt from the cabin crew that there were around four people who had yet to board the plane.

She then spotted Lee across the aisle from her, appearing anxious, and guessed that she might have friends who had not boarded.

Once Lee sat down, she kept recording WeChat voice messages.

At first, Yau asked her calmly to lower her voice, to which Lee agreed. But when she continued to do it again when the plane was taxiing, Yau asked if she could please stop talking on the phone right now.

Lee started scolding her immediately, Yau recalled. Lee said that her phone's network connection would automatically cut off once the plane was in the air.

Yau admitted that she then took out her phone and was about to film Lee, thinking it might be helpful for self-protection.

Believing Yau had already filmed her, Lee told her to delete the video.

"At the time, I had no chance to refute her because of her state of mind then, and only she could speak," Yau said in the interview. "She was behaving unreasonably and arrogantly, and there was no chance to refute her."

The cabin crew stepped in then, saying they would handle the situation.

Impact on passengers

When the interviewer asked if the passengers near Lee were affected by her causing a scene, Yau said she believed they were not much affected, but found her very funny.

They were also curious to know what Lee might do next, Yau added.

Still, she noted that the flight delay did affect the travel plans and hotel bookings of some passengers.

"But [Lee] did not formally apologise, and even continued to do livestream videos spreading lies," Yau said.

No apology

In the interview, Yau also responded to Lee's claim that she had apologised to Yau.

In a handwritten statement circulating online, believed to be the letter of guarantee that Lee wrote after getting off the plane, Lee said that after hanging up the phone, she apologised to Yau.

Later in livestream videos, Lee also claimed they resolved any disagreement.

According to Yau, however, this did not happen at all.

"When did you give me this apology? We did not even exchange contact," Yau said. "You should take responsibility for what you said...I did not accept any apology from her. She is lying."

After watching many of Lee's livestream videos, Yau said she felt that Lee did not express remorse or apologise to the passengers, but was trying to attract more views.