Bali airport rejects claims that Australian family was kicked off Jetstar flight because of religion, says ‘they were unruly’

An Australian family was kicked off a Jetstar flight bound for Melbourne because they were “unruly,” officials from Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport said yesterday. The explanation comes after the passengers claimed they were removed from the plane because of their religion. 

“They were unruly passengers. They did not heed safety instructions and could potentially endanger themselves, other passengers, and the flight itself,” airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim said, as quoted by Viva.

Arie explained that the incident began when two passengers refused to put on their seatbelt as Jetstar flight JQ-36 was about to take off on Nov. 3. They still refused even after they were reprimanded by a cabin crew, who then reported the matter to the pilot. The pilot then decided to return to Ngurah Rai to remove them from the flight. 

The removal of these two passengers sparked protests from their friends, and they were consequently kicked off the flight as well. A total of 21 people were removed from the flight that evening. 

As previously reported by Australian news outlet, 9News, one of the passengers – identified as Sarah Aslan – claimed that the family was removed from the flight “for looking ethnic and being Muslim,” while other members of their group reportedly took to Facebook to post that they were “racially, verbally and physically assaulted” by Jetstar crew members and Bali airport officials. 

It might be worth pointing out here that Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, and according to reports, the cabin crew member who had spoken to the problematic passenger was a Muslim. In addition, Jetstar has also disputed the entire incident.

The official comment from Bali airport comes after a slew of reports from a bunch of Australian news outlets said that the passengers were kicked off the flight because of their religion and ethnicity. 

“The removal of these passengers have nothing to do with issues relating to SARA [tribal affiliations, religion, race and societal groups],” Arie said.

“This is purely in regards to flight safety. The incident has been resolved in Australia. But in Indonesia we feel the need to clarify because some rumors are going around, [and] they are not based on facts.”

Arie also added that the 21 passengers were then flown back to Melbourne on Nov. 4.

Read more news and updates from Bali here.