A young father-of-two has disclosed the circumstances leading to his being booted off a Jetstar flight after he snapped a photo of his wife and kids on the tarmac in Autralia.
Jimmy Mitchell was flying from Sydney to Brisbane on Wednesday ahead of a cruise when he took the picture of his family on the steps as they boarded the plane, a tradition he has observed on previous flights.
But minutes earlier there had been an announcement to not use phones while on the tarmac as the plane was refuelling, which Mr Mitchell did not hear as he had headphones in.
Mr Mitchell complained there were no notices posted about the tarmac rule and he wasn’t told anything by staff apart from the one announcement.
In a TikTok video which has since gone viral, Mr Mitchell bashed the airline, saying he was mortified when he was booted from the plane.
‘This is the worst experience I’ve ever had flying,’ he said in the clip.
‘I try and get on the plane, I take a photo of my kids as they get on the plane, in flight mode, and the lady (allegedly) calls me an idiot,’ he said.
‘I turned around in disbelief because I was halfway up the stairs at this point. I basically stormed over to her and I was like, “Are you serious? What did you just call me?”
‘If she had literally just said anything else, like “get off your phone”, I would have done it.
Apparently, they made an announcement, but I had noise cancelling headphones, Pauline (wife) told me after the fact – I didn’t hear it, there was no notifications about it, there was no signage.’
Mr Mitchell said he confronted the staff member and was subsequently not allowed to board the plane.
‘I can see how she, maybe, felt I was being intimidating because I am a big guy and I am a loud guy. She turns around to me and goes ‘you almost assaulted me, get off the tarmac, you’re not getting on this plane’.’
The dad said he went back inside the terminal and, after the heat of the situation subsided, he was allowed to board the plane.
A Jetstar spokesperson said they were reviewing the incident.
‘All our customers and team members have the right to feel respected when flying with us or when at work and we’re looking into what took place in this instance,’ the spokesperson said.
