Asian flight attendants are increasingly adopting the traditional Thai greeting of the "wai" to welcome and thank their passengers.
According to a Bangkok Post report, airlines such as AirAsia X, Malaysia's AirAsia, AirAsia Indonesia and Garuda Indonesia have adopted the gesture, which involves putting the palms of the hands together and bowing as a sign of respect.
While Thai carriers including national carrier Thai Airways International, have long used the gesture, the trend appears to have been spread initially by regional low-cost carrier AirAsia, which has a Thai subsidiary.
Although most clearly recognisable as a Thai greeting, the origins of the wai probably can be traced back to India and were spread across Asia during the several centuries of Hindu and Buddhist dominance. The wai resembles the Indian “namaste” greeting, the Cambodian "sampeah" and the Lao "kub" and various other adaptations across Malaysian, Indonesia and Brunei, the paper says.
Kenny Coyle
