Shilpa Shetty alleges racism at Sydney airport, calls out Australian airline

Actress Shilpa Shetty on Sunday (IST) had an unpleasant experience at the Sydney Airport.

Taking it to Instagram, ‘Life in a metro’ actress narrated the ordeals she faced while travelling to Melbourne by Quantas Airways. In her post, the 43-year-old revealed how the staff prevented her from checking in her “half empty duffel bag” and forced her twice to go to the “oversized luggage” counter. “Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne and at the check in counter met a grumpy Mel (that’s her name) who decided it was “OK” to speak curtly to “US” ( Brown people!!) travelling together ,I was flying business and had 2 bags (my allowance)and she insisted and decided my half empty Duffel bag was oversized( to check in!!) So she sent us to check it in at the other counter dealing with “Oversized luggage”,” read an excerpt from Shilpa Shetty’s post.

 

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Subject: #Qantas airways @qantas This should get your attention! Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne and at the check in counter met a grumpy #Mel ( that’s her name)who decided it was “OK” to speak curtly to “US” ( Brown people!!) travelling together ,I was flying business and had 2 bags (my allowance)and she insisted and decided my half empty Duffel bag was oversized( to check in!!) So she sent us to check it in at the other counter dealing with “Oversized luggage” ..there a Polite lady(yes this one was) said ..”this ISN’T an oversized bag, pls check this in manually if u can at another counter” ( all this happening while the counter is going to shut in 5 mins) As the manual check in wasn’t going thru for 5 mins( we tried) I went upto #Mel and requested her to put the bag thru as her colleague said it wasn’t an oversized bag.. She refused again.. Just being adamant especially when I told her this is causing a lot of inconvenience .. We had no time to waste so we ran to the oversized baggage counter and requested her to put the bag through which she did after I told her that #Rude #Mel had issues !!!…. to which another colleague joined in an reiterated my duffle wasn’t oversized and could’ve easily been checked in. The point is .. This piece is only for #quantas airlines to know and take cognisance .. that their staff must be taught to be helpful and TONE can’t change with preference to #COLOUR .”WE” are NOT #pushovers and they MUST know that being #callous and #Rude will NOT BE TOLERATED 🙏✋🏼💔. Ps: Please tell me if that bag in the picture is oversized??!! @australia @visitmelbourne @travel #truthmustbetold #bemused #uncalledfor #standup #equality #whatswrongisnotright #instapic #travelwoes #shocking #nightmare #notcool

A post shared by Shilpa Shetty Kundra (@theshilpashetty) on Sep 22, 2018 at 6:37pm PDT

Shilpa, however, was reassured by the staffs from “oversized baggage” counter that her bag wasn’t “oversized” and can be checked manually. But the “grumpy” staff refused let it pass. “As the manual check in wasn’t going thru for five minutes (we tried) I went up to Mel and requested her to put the bag thru as her colleague said it wasn’t an oversized bag.. She refused again.. Just being adamant especially when I told her this is causing a lot of inconvenience. We had no time to waste so we ran to the oversized baggage counter and requested her to put the bag through which she did after I told her that rude Mel had issues,” Shilpa added.

Shilpa Shetty also alleged in her post that the behaviour by the airline staff was racially motivated and wanted the Quantas Airways to take notice of the incident. “This piece is only for Quantas airlines to know and take cognisance that their staff must be taught to be helpful and tone can’t change with preference to colour. We are not pushovers and they must know that being callous and rude will not be tolerated.”

Further, Shilpa shared a photo of the “half empty Duffel bag” and asked her followers: “Please tell me if that bag in the picture is oversized?”