“What really happened”: Man kicked off Qantas flight speaks out
<p dir="ltr">A man who was kicked off a Qantas flight along with his family after demanding cabin crew apologise for their behaviour towards his wife has spoken publicly for the first time, sharing his recollection of events.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Zakir Slaimankhel, a high-profile international rugby player and charity ambassador, was filmed having an argument with staff in a viral TikTok video aboard a plane at Bali’s Denpasar Airport.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the clip, Mr Slaimankhal could be heard saying his wife was in tears after airline staff were rude to her and claimed that staff had mishandled his pram and hadn’t brought it into the plane before takeoff.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The staff member arguing with Mr Slaimankhel was heard repeatedly telling him to stop swearing and eventually informed him that security had been called.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“You made my wife cry and now you’re getting angry at me?” he can be heard saying to her.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“You can’t upset my crew - “ she said, to which he responded, “You can’t upset my family and kids!”</p>
<p dir="ltr">“What are you on about, ‘you can’t upset my crew’, my wife’s crying!”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mr Slaimankhel, who lives in Sydney but arrived in New Zealand as a refugee from Afghanistan, posted a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zslaimankhel/posts/pfbid0emaUBeFn172rqtWRkkoysSZEJMiUooLsCiwPfvAPwSjoiz7nKAsfvBCzq9XxbzLEl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lengthy statement</a> online on Monday night in which he recounted what happened in the lead-up to the altercation on flight QF44, claiming staff had “humiliated” his wife and that the pram had been left outside.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“As we boarded the flight, my pram was left outside the aircraft by staff who advised that it will be brought in,” he explained.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mr Slaimankhel said he later went to the front of the plane to check where the pram was and found it outside “and chucked to the side”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">When he brought it in and asked where he could store it, Mr Slaimankhel said a staff member “sternly” told him to find a spot and didn’t offer to help.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After it was announced the plane was delayed, he said his wife went to change their five-month-old son’s nappy in the toilet at the rear of the plane.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">“Whilst waiting, a flight attendant told her to move down the aircraft in an unrelenting manner as we were apparently inhibiting the toilet doors from opening safely. However, the other passenger and her were not in any close proximity to the door for it to contact them. The stern instructions from this staff member were unjustified and made her feel belittled,” he continued.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/zakir-statement.jpeg" alt="" width="1440" height="657" /></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Facebook</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">After the nappy change, Mr Slaimankhel said his wife was then “shouted at” by an attendant while leaving the toilet and was stared at by another flight attendant.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“This prompted my wife to ask her ‘why are you looking at me like that?’, to which she said, ‘I’m not looking at you, I’m looking past you’,” he wrote.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Then she mentioned it’s people like you with that head thingy’ in a stereotypical and racist manner. My wife was shocked and started shaking.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">He said the behaviour made his wife cry and feel “extremely humiliated and distraught”, and when she told them they were rude and condescending, she was met with little sympathy for her concerns.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Their treatment inflicted immense anxiety within her, she felt isolated, overwhelmed, and discriminated against. It made her question her self and feel powerless being a visible Muslim who wears a hijab,” Mr Slaimankhel wrote.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I did not witness any other passenger be treated in a remotely similar manner to my family.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">He continued to recount feeling “in shock” at his wife’s distress and treatment, and that he approached Qantas staff for an explanation and apology.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“It felt dehumanising and frustrating that our feelings and concerns could not even be appropriately acknowledged or addressed. On the other hand, we were shunned and ejected from the aircraft by security. Even whilst collecting our belongings to leave, multiple flight attendants smirked at us,” he continued, adding that it showed a “lack of emotional intelligence” among staff and that the incident had had “traumatic ripple effects” across his family’s lives.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He said that his wife has continued flashbacks of the ordeal and that the video of the argument going viral led to his “character assassination”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“As I was reacting to the provocation of staff who were treating us as flight risks and heedless to our concerns. I was visibly upset at the tears and anxiety that they had caused my wife , which was exacerbated by the lack of compassion and human empathy expressed by the Qantas staff,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mr Slaimankhel concluded the post by sharing his extreme disappointment with the airline for releasing a statement about the incident “before contacting us and understanding the full context of the situation”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This may be in reference to the statement Qantas shared with <em>news.com.au </em>on October 25, in which the airline said the family were eventually removed from the plane after clashing with crew members “a number of times prior to the flight departing Bali”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“The safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority,” the spokesperson said at the time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We ask customers to follow the direction of crew for the safety and comfort of everyone on board.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">However, the airline issued a new statement on Tuesday morning, in which a Qantas spokeswoman denied Mr Slaimankhel’s claims.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Qantas takes allegations of this nature raised very seriously and we will not tolerate any unlawful discrimination on racial, ethnic or any other grounds,” a spokeswoman said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We conducted a thorough review of the claims made by Mr Slaimankhel and his wife. Qantas strongly denies that its crew spoke to either Mr Slaimankhel or his wife in a rude manner. Our staff also deny making any inappropriate comments regarding the passengers’ attire. This has been supported by other passengers who witnessed the interactions.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">The airline spokeswoman said that “abusive behaviour” isn’t tolerated on board, even though Mr Slaimankhel remained seated and the extent of his behaviour involved swearing and raising his voice.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We ask customers to follow the direction of crew for the safety and comfort of everyone on board. As a result of our review into the incidents on-board, Mr Slaimankhel and his wife have been issued with no fly orders with Qantas Group airlines for their behaviour towards our crew.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">With profanities appearing to be the major issue the flight attendant had with Mr Slaimankhel in the clip, it comes amid a wider issue of people of colour being over-represented in the number of charges for swearing resulting in fines or time in court.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In NSW, <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/australia-where-offensive-and-insulting-language-is-actually-a-crime,10319" target="_blank" rel="noopener">567 out of 1600 people</a> charged and taken to court over offensive language were Indigenous, despite Indigenous Australians making up just 3 percent of the population in 2015 alone.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Facebook</em></p>
