Thrown off a flight for criticising Jetstar

I arrived at the airport on that day for my flight from Sydney to Noosa and checked in and went through security and went to the departure gate. I was amazed that I got to the gate uneventful as that had never happened for me with Jetstar before, but I think it was because at that point Id had no human interaction with Jetstar staff. About 10 minutes before the flight was about to board Jetstar made an announcement at the gate that all hand luggage would be weighed for every customer and everyone had to queue up and get their carry on luggage weighed (about 100 passengers). As my hand luggage was over the limit of 7.5KGs I had to go to the Jetstar counter where I was informed there would be an excess baggage fee. While I was contemplating paying the fee or going to check in my lugage I let the lady behind me in the queue be served as there was a long queue as at least 50 passengers had overweight carry on. The lady , was informed that their was an excess baggage fee of $50 which she paid for. As she was being served she turned to me and said "I hate Jetstar" to which I replied "Every time I fly with them their is issues" I then went on "I think Jetstar are xxxx". The Jetstar lady at the counter who was processing the payment overheard our conversation and immediately went bonkers and began yelling at me that "you can't talk about Jetstar like that you are not coming on the plane" She then turned around to the other staff members behind the counter and began yelling that I wasn't getting on the plane. Then she told other staff members that I had swore at her. I stated that I had not sworn at her and I also stated that Im entitled to my opinion of Jetstar and I thought they were rubbish. The passenger standing next to me then said, "excuse me he did not swear at you at all. He was talking to me, it was a private conversation and you have no right to eavesdrop on passengers." I began to see the attitude of the staff getting out of control so I wanted to make sure there were no misunderstanding or potential for the staff to lie or fabricate events and so that I had documentary evidence of events so I told them I was going to video proceedings and started to record the proceedings. At this the staff started yelling at me that I couldn't film them and that I was to put the camera away. They also said they were going to call the Federal Police to stop me filming them and pretended to make calls via their 2 way radios to call the Police. I told them to please call the police as I had done nothing wrong, that I was entitled to my opinions and it wasn't illegal to film somebody. I then asked for a supervisor and one arrived a few minutes later. He came over to see what the issue was and the Jestar lady told him that I had swore at her. I replied I hadn't swore at her, but I had stated my opinion that Jetstar are rubbish. He told me to switch off the camera to which I replied I was entitled to film events, he then began threatening me and also took out his camera and told me he was going to film me. I replied that was okay I had no problem with him filming me as I had nothing to hide and only people who had things to hide disliked being filmed. He then shouted across to his staff to unload my bags ( I hadn't checked any bags in) as he wasn't going to allow me on the plane. I then asked him to confirm on camera that he was not permitting me to board the flight and he went on to instruct the staff to not permit me to board. I was getting a bit worried and were suspicious that the may try to make more accusations and call the police or security and try to invent a situation as judging by their attitude I felt they were capable of anything so I left and went to the Virgin counter to try and book with them, but the flight that day was fully booked so I left the airport. I first got the details of the passenger witness who although not directly effected seemed shaken by the events and the performance of the staff. Since then I went through their complaints procedure as well as complained to Airlines Advocate organisation and now I have taken them to the small claims court (it costs $45 and Jetstar have to attend). I will post the outcome as the case is today. I will also be uploading the video footage on social media. Maybe another United Airlines.

Domestic
Australia-Sydney
Australia-Sunshine Coast

Comments

I know someone who took them

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to many delays i will not

to many delays i will not fly with them