An Indian family visiting Australia for a holiday has alleged the Jetstar employees mocked and abused them when the family flew with them.
The Bhattacharya family says the alleged incident occurred on the night when they returned from Cairns to Sydney on Monday.
During the flight, Shubhang Bhattacharya was seated separately from his parents, he says.
“During disembarking, my father took my bag while I was looking for it inside. He got out of the plane but did not see me, so stepped aside on the plane stairwell and peeped inside. That is when two air hostesses rudely asked him not to enter the plane and go down,” Shubhang told SBS Hindi.
“My father told them, ‘I understand I shouldn’t stand here but why are you speaking to me like this?’. The air hostesses then mocked him. They imitated him and laughed at him. I saw this as I was getting out,” he says.
“We did not want to get into a confrontation. So we left and stepped down. However, on the tarmac, another man dressed in a safety reflective vest approached and asked us what happened.
“I thought he was concerned. But when we told him what happened, he asked us to ‘just f*** *** and threatened us with arrest.
“He said he will call the police. ‘I can get you arrested for trying to get into the plane’, he said. When we explained that my father was not trying to get into the plane but was standing aside and waiting for me, he again said, ‘get the h*** out of here’,” he says.
The man ran away when the father-son tried to record through his mobile phone, he says.
“I took the phone out and he made a dash,” he says.
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“We have been to the Australian Open and to the Great Barrier Reef and we have encountered nothing but fine, good, polite people. But this was shocking,” Shubhang told SBS Hindi.
The family took to Twitter to complain to the airline.
“But their response has been disappointing,” says Shubhang.
A Jetstar plane prepares to take off Source: AAP Image/Daniel Munoz
Allegations denied
A Jetstar spokesperson has denied the allegations and said the passenger was attempting to re-board the aircraft after disembarking.
“We do not tolerate any form of discriminatory or aggressive behaviour by our team members or our customers and take these allegations very seriously.
“We have been in contact with Mr Bhattacharya and our crew to investigate what took place when the customer attempted to re-board the aircraft after disembarking.
“Our team members involved deny making any aggressive or discriminatory comments when informing Mr Bhattacharya that he was not permitted to re-board the aircraft,” the spokesperson said.
The family claims Jetstar have offered them a $50 voucher as ‘a gesture of goodwill’.
“I’ve told them in their feedback that we’re not interested in any sort of monetary compensation and that we’d like action against the staff and a formal apology,” Mr Bhattacharya said.
Source: Supplied
Source: Supplied
India is the fastest growing inbound market for Australia
Indians are now the eighth largest overseas visitors to Australia and the seventh biggest spenders according to Tourism Australia.
“Arrivals for the year ended November 2018 stood at 3,52,000, a growth of 18% over the previous year. India once again earned the distinction of being the fastest growing inbound market for Australia. During the year ending September 2018, Indian tourists spent $1.6 billion AUD on their Australia trip,” Nishant KAshikar, Tourism Australia’s country manager for India recently said.
