Bali’s Denpasar airport weighs in on why Aussie Muslim family was kicked off Jetstar flight
Bali’s Denpasar Airport has released a statement around the controversy that involved an Australian Muslim family being kicked off their Jetstar flight.
Sarah Aslan, 23, and her husband Muhammed were travelling with a wedding party of 20 after having their dream wedding in Bali.
An altercation occurred on board the flight and the family were left in the airport at 2 am local time.
Jetstar have since confirmed that the airline paid for an extra flight for the family to go home the next day at no extra cost, but the family have claimed that they were kicked off the flight for “looking ethnic”.
Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar has confirmed that the family’s removal from the flight was because of their behaviour and NOT because of their faith.
“We want to convey that the removal of a number of passengers from (the Jetstar flight) was purely because of security and flight safety reasons related to unruly passengers,” airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim said in a statement published in the Jakarta Post.
The spokesman also confirmed that the removal of the family had “nothing to do with SARA issues”. SARA is the Indonesian term that describes tribal affiliations, religious, race and social groups.
“Two passengers did not heed the cabin crew’s instructions,” he explained.
As one family member explained that his in-flight entertainment was not working, he was told it would be dealt with after takeoff but two members of the party remained standing.
“After the warnings were not heeded by the aforementioned passengers, the cabin crew reported the incident to the pilot … who decided that the two passengers should be removed from the plane because they would not listen to the flight safety instructions from the cabin crew,” the spokesman said.
The people who protested the removal of the two passengers were also removed from the plane.
However, in an interview with 9News, Sarah has claimed that it felt like they were “attacked” for their faith.
“Personally, it did feel like we were being attacked for looking ethnic and being Muslim,” she said.
“That’s why I started crying. I’m like, I just want to go home, I don’t want to be here anymore.”