Pop icons The Veronicas have allegedly been booted off a Sydney to Brisbane flight today by the Australian Federal Police after failing to comply with cabin crews’ directions.
Jess and Lisa Origliasso were allegedly escorted off the plane at around 11am on Sunday morning after delaying the flight for almost an hour. It is alleged that the sisters refused to put their luggage in the overhead bin for the Brisbane-bound flight, according to The Courier Mail.
The Veronicas were allegedly escorted off the flight after a fight broke out between the ‘Untouched’ sisters and cabin crew. If you’ve ever caught a flight, you’d know that you legally need to comply with cabin crew’s instructions at all times. This is usually for safety reasons, but if you’re being argumentative, you’re likely going to get booted off your flight.
According to a passenger on the flight, the pair were “being obstructive and not following instructions” before the Feds were apparently called. The passenger, who wanted to be known as Greg, told The Courier Mail that fellow travellers and staff were growing impatient with the pair.
“They were just in a belligerent, ‘I-refuse-to-do-what-I’m-told-because-I’m-important’ load of rubbish,” Greg said.
Greg, who humble-bragged that he was flying business class (I am jealous of Greg), claimed that the cabin crew were openly discussing their options, and whether they were going to remove the sisters from the flight.
Another passenger snapped a photo of what looks to be the sisters being escorted out by the Feds.
According to Greg’s allegations on Facebook, the sisters filmed the ordeal and were rude to staff and the Australian Federal Police before being labelled a “security risk” and removed from the flight.
“They got marched out, and one of (the sisters) was filming the whole thing,” Greg said.
The Veronicas haven’t released an official statement, but they did comment on a fellow passenger’s Instagram post, trying to explain the “crazy” situation. Honestly, it looks like a big ol’ misunderstanding.
“We actually already had our bag up in the overhead. The female flight attendant wanted Lisa’s bag spun around. Lisa asked the attendant if she could help assist her, because she couldn’t reach it (we’re only 5”1). The attendant said it was against company policy. And a lovely man behind us helped instead,” Jess said on the shared account. “Then right before take off, the flight attendant bought over the manger and pointed us out. He proceeded to lecture us about company policy.”
The sisters claimed that it was all a big misunderstanding and the girls were just confused about what was actually happening, which is why they started filming.
“We were so confused as to why asking for their names resulted in us being removed by 3 federal police,” they said on Instagram. “Such an upsetting and embarrassing experience. We still can’t believe this happened, and that the flight was delayed for so long when we had no idea what was happening.”
Qantas has released a statement confirming that two people on flight QF516 were removed from the flight. QF516 was a Sydney-Brisbane flight that was scheduled to leave at 10am on Sunday.
“After boarding, two passengers refused to follow crew instructions and were offloaded,” the statement read.
The flight eventually departed after a 40-minute delay, and the sisters were allegedly able to fly to Brisbane on a later flight on Sunday.
“We are still in shock and so upset,” the pair said.
