Shilpa Shetty receives apology from Qantas Airways for racist incident

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty had recently taken to her Instagram handle to share her ordeal at the Sydney airport. The diva who was travelling from Sydney to Melbourne, had a tough time dealing with an employee of an Australian airline just because she was brown. She had revealed how a rude Qantas airways lady staff member had deemed her cabin luggage as ‘oversized’ at the check-in counter. She was allegedly inconvenienced even though her bag was within the dimensions specified by the airline.

Taking to her social media handle, Shilpa wrote, “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.”

You can read her entire post here:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

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 #qantas 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

Following her accusations, Qantas Airlines (within 24 hours) acknowledged her complaint and tweeted an apology. Their tweet read,”We’re sorry to hear that you have had a negative experience with us today Shilpa. We have passed your feedback on to the relevant team and we hope that you have a great experience with us onboard! Khalid”.

Check out their tweet here:

We’re sorry to hear that you have had a negative experience with us today Shilpa. We have passed your feedback on to the relevant team and we hope that you have a great experience with us onboard! Khalid

— Qantas (@Qantas) September 23, 2018

This is not the first time that Shilpa has faced the ordeal of racism. She had earlier faced the same during her stint in the fifth season of British reality show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ which she went on to win in 2007.

Also Read: In pics: Parineeti Chopra, Shilpa Shetty and family seek blessings of Lord Ganesha