An Indian-origin passenger has accused a Jetstar employee of racism following an alleged altercation at Melbourne International Airport.
Ryan Chand, a Canadian citizen of Indian background, claims the alleged incident took place when he was travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane with his wife.
In a on the airline’s official page, Chand claims they approached a Jetstar employee when they couldn’t purchase excess luggage via the airline app. But the airline employee they spoke to was rude and made a racial comment.
He writes, "We attempted to purchase more weight via the app but it wasn't working correctly (app glitch). She did not care to listen. As we were adjusting our overweight luggage to fit what was allowed by JetStar, she accosted my wife to weigh her purse. This was the first time we'd be harassed by a JetStar employee to weigh a personal item. We'd only had good interactions with other employees at Auckland and Queenstown up to this point.
"When I questioned this, she rudely said 'this is policy.' This is where we get to the main reason I am contacting you. When I told her this hadn't happened with previous JetStar check-ins on this itinerary, she said to my face 'Well this is Melbourne, not India.'
"This was of course in direct reference to our South Indian background, even though we're Canadian citizens. I was shocked about what she had just said to me. Thankfully it was just out of earshot of my wife, who was already stressed about the luggage issues.
"This was clear racism towards my wife and I. We live in 2018, and this sort of behaviour is NOT OK. I chose not to confront her at the time, as I did not want to escalate the issue when we had a flight to shortly catch. I waited until our itinerary was complete with JetStar as I did not want to end up on a no-fly/blacklist for our flight to Sydney either."
Jetstar on the post said, “We take your allegations seriously and are looking into them. We see that you submitted a formal complaint and we’ll come back to you with a response soon.”
Ryan Chand with his wife, Sarina Chand Source: Facebook/Ryan Chand
A Jetstar spokesperson told : “The team member involved disputes that there was any discriminatory comments made.”
The spokesperson added: “We do not tolerate any form of discriminatory behaviour.”
Mr Chand has demanded to be reimbursed the $57 he was forced to pay for extra baggage because of the “faulty app”.
"Due to this blatant display of unprofessionalism on the part of your Jetstar employee, I want to be reimbursed for this charge due to the racism hurled towards my wife and I due to our cultural background and skin tone.
"Again, this is 2018 and it is UNACCEPTABLE.
"This employee needs to be made well aware of this," he said.
Mr Chand published the post on the airline’s Facebook page so "all Jetstar clients" could see how an "employee of yours treated passengers."
