‘Racism’ claim: Virgin Australia accused of denying Melbourne family exit row seats

A Melbourne couple has accused Australia’s leading airlines of racial profiling as they boarded a flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast.

In September Timothy and Irene began planning their holiday to the Gold Coast to visit family on 27 December.

They planned to travel with Irene’s parents and grandparents, who are of Asian descent and have lived as citizens in Australia for forty years.

Irene said she purchased exit row tickets for herself, her husband, and her grandmother, and the two seats in the back were reserved for her mother and father months before the scheduled departure.

“(The next day) Mum and Dad decided they wanted exit row seats too, so I called Virgin Australia customer services to purchase the exit row upgrade for Mum and Dad,” he told NewsWire.

‘Do you speak English?’

Irene said that after making arrangements for the tickets, no questions were asked, but when they started boarding the plane on the day of the flight on December 27, they encountered problems.

After smoothly passing through check-in and security with Irene’s family, Timothy and Irene were briefly separated from her family, who was in another row, while waiting to board the plane.

The couple then heard a cabin crew member begin “yelling” at their relative.

“We noticed the first ground crew member, who was still with my mom, dad, and grandma, getting louder,” Irene said.

“My husband and I walked there and I asked my grandmother what was wrong with the Chinese because she was clearly upset that this person was yelling at her.”

He claimed the ground crew member shouted at his family “with extra force”, crossed his arms and “kept repeating” that they were not allowed to sit in their assigned exit row seats.

According to Irene, the cabin crew member confronted her father, mother and grandmother and asked them one by one: “Do you speak English?”

He then turned to Irene and asked the same question.

But when he looked at the white Timothy, he allegedly said: “Of course you can speak English.”

The family was then split up and ordered to sit in different seats than the ones they had booked; Irene’s grandmother was moved to the empty seat at the back of the plane.

Irene’s mother decided to sit next to her grandmother to avoid further distress.

“I was so shaken by this interaction that the more I thought about it as I walked towards boarding the plane, the angrier I got,” Irene told NewsWire.

“It’s been so long since we’ve experienced this kind of racism,” he said.

“My mother, father and grandmother said that this was normal but they were shocked by the tone and loud voice of the ground crew member because they had never done anything wrong in this country,” Irene said.

Virgin Australia denied the accusation

The couple complained to Virgin Australia after landing in Queensland on December 27.

After weeks of being told the issue was being investigated, the airline eventually said: “We apologize that the response provided did not meet your expectations, but we strongly deny any discriminatory behavior by our team members.”

According to Virgin Australia, those eligible to sit in the exit row must be at least 15 years old and be physically able to access, locate and operate emergency exit windows.

They must also be able to “understand and accept the instructions given in English by our cabin crew regarding the tasks expected of them in an emergency evacuation and to read the security card provided by our crew for this purpose.”

Irene said she knew passengers needed to understand English, but there was no mention that they also had to be “good at English.”

Irene said the incident shook the family and her grandmother feared the same incident would happen on her way home.

“On our return flight, my grandmother was adamant that she didn’t want to sit in the exit row, so we went to change her ticket before the flight,” he told NewsWire.

“There was no English test at the gate for the return flight.”

A Virgin Australia spokesperson told NewsWire that the airline was “committed to providing an inclusive and respectful environment for all guests” and “takes complaints of this nature seriously”.

“For safety reasons, Australian aviation safety regulations administered by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) require airlines to apply certain criteria when seating passengers in emergency exit rows,” he said.

“These requirements are outlined in Virgin Australia’s Economy X terms and conditions, including that guests seated in exit rows must be able to understand and accept instructions given in English by cabin crew.

“Our guest services representatives are required to evaluate whether guests seated in emergency exit rows meet applicable safety criteria.”

The spokesman also said Virgin did not consider the cabin crew’s behavior to be an example of racial insensitivity or slurs.

But he confirmed that the airline would “remind” its teams that they must “maintain professionalism and respect” when completing eligibility questions.

However, Irene said that the airline’s response was inadequate and failed to intervene in the incident.

“We prepared for an honest admission and apology and then moved on,” he said.

“But it is appalling that this behavior is deemed acceptable by Virgin Australia.”

The family later complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

He said the impact of the incident has made his family wary of traveling by airline again.

“My parents have been Australian citizens for over 40 years, and my grandmother has been an Australian citizen for over 30 years,” he said.

“It is truly disheartening that Virgin Australia’s definition of diversity and inclusion only applies if you are white presenting.”