Family claims Jetstar kicked them off flight for “looking ethnic and being Muslim”
A couple who had their dream wedding in Bali say that the experience was ruined on the flight home due to an altercation with Jetstar.
Sarah Aslan, 23, and her wedding party of 22 had planned to return to Melbourne on Monday via a Jetstar flight, but were instead escorted off the flight and left in Denpasar Airport at 2 am local time.
The ejection was due to a confrontation between a flight attendant and Mike Mahmoud, who was a member of Sarah’s group.
"I really truly don't believe I was arrogant, I just wanted to get home" he says to 9 News.
The family continued to argue with staff and other passengers claimed that things were so heated, the pilot made the decision to turn the plane around and kick the family off the flight.
The family are Turkish-Australian and some among the wedding party were wearing headscarves.
"Personally, it did feel like we were being attacked for looking ethnic and being Muslim" Sarah says.
"That's why I started crying. I'm like, I just want to go home, I don't to be here anymore."
Jetstar booked the wedding party on another flight 24 hours later at no extra cost, with the family arriving back in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
However, other family members have taken aim at the airline, saying that they were “racially, verbally and physically assaulted”.
One family member, Selim Tutunca, spoke about the incident on Jetstar’s Facebook page.
“We were racially, verbally and physically assaulted by both Jetstar crew members and Bali airport officials. We have footage of all of this,” he wrote.
“We were kicked off the flight even though we hadn’t even spoke a single word to the crew members. We have been waiting for over four hours and my children are sleeping on benches at the airport.
“We weren’t accommodated by Jetstar whatsoever. We tried speaking to them and they didn’t want to know anything about us.”
Jetstar are disputing the entire incident despite the family’s story.
“The safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority, and we do not tolerate any kind of disruptive or abusive behaviour,” a Jetstar spokesman said to news.com.au.
“We take these allegations extremely seriously and are investigating the matter, however our crew dispute the claims made by these passengers.”