A uni student who stood up for what she believed in – that’s ‘stood up’ in the literal sense, as in, remained planted on two feet, preventing a plane from taking off – has found herself banned from future Qantas flights as a result.
Fairfax report that Jasmine Pilbrow was protesting the transfer and presumed deportation of a 25-year-old Tamil asylum seeker, who was present on the flight from Melbourne to Darwin on February 2 of this year.
Pilbrow boarded the plane and refused to sit until the man was taken off, believing that he would be imprisoned and tortured if returned to Sri Lanka from Darwin.
Last week, it was reported that a fellow passenger, who voluntarily left the flight after hearing of the asylum seeker protest taking place on board, was facing a ban from flying Qantas as a result.
Pilbrow says that after seeing this news story, she contacted the Australian Federal Police, and discovered that she had also been banned from future flights with Qantas and its partners.
She also received an email from a security officer at the airline, saying that her actions on February 2 were “unacceptable” and would “not be tolerated by the Qantas Group or the Jetstar Group.”
The student says that while she was frustrated in her attempts to follow up on the ban with Qantas, she also believes it’s unfair that the other two passengers, who were not part of her protest, are also facing flight bans.
Speaking about the protest, a Qantas representative said “the aisle of an aircraft is not the same as a town square. All airlines have clear rules about the need to follow crew instructions at all times, and no-fly bans show how seriously this is taken.”
The AFP investigation into Pilbrow is ongoing, and she is currently seeking legal advice. At the time, she says that police told her she would be fined but not charged in connection with the incident.
It is believed that the Tamil asylum seeker remains in the Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre.
