A young father-of-two has revealed how he was temporarily kicked off a Jetstar flight after an incident sparked by him taking a photo of his wife and children on the tarmac.
Jimmy Mitchell was flying from Sydney to Brisbane on Wednesday ahead of a cruise when he snapped the photo of his family on the stairs as they boarded the plane, a tradition he has observed on previous flights.
But minutes earlier there had been an announcement not to use phones on the tarmac while the plane was refueling, which Mr Mitchell did not hear because he was wearing headphones.
Mr Mitchell complained that no notices had been posted about the tarmac line and that staff had told him nothing other than one notice.
Frequent traveler Jimmy Mitchell said in a viral video that he was outraged by the incident
In a TikTok video that has since gone viral, Mr Mitchell flew to the airline and said he was shocked when he was stepped off the plane.
“This is the worst experience I’ve ever had flying,” he said in the clip.
“I’m trying to get on a plane, I’m taking a picture of my kids getting on the plane, in flight mode, and the lady (allegedly) calls me an idiot,” he said.
‘I turned around in disbelief as I was halfway up the stairs at the time. I actually stormed up to her and I was like, ‘Are you serious? What did you just call me?’
“If she had literally said anything else, like ‘get off your phone,’ I would have done it.
The incident arose after Mr Mitchell took this photo on the tarmac
‘Apparently they had made an announcement but I had noise canceling headphones, Pauline (woman) said afterwards – I didn’t hear it, there were no notifications about it, there was no signage.’
Mr Mitchell said he confronted the employee and was subsequently not allowed to board the plane.
“I imagine she felt like I was intimidating because I’m a big kid and a loud kid. She turns to me and says, “You almost attacked me, get off the tarmac, you’re not getting on this plane.”
The father said he went back to the terminal and, after the heat of the situation subsided, he was allowed to board the plane.
A spokesperson for Jetstar said they were investigating the incident.
“All of our customers and team members have the right to feel respected when they fly with us or are at work and we are investigating what happened in this case,” the spokesperson said.