Shilpa Shetty tweets 'we are not pushovers' after racial abuse at Sydney airport; Qantas apologises

Shilpa Shetty called out an Australian airline staff Sunday for alleged racist behaviour, saying colour of a customer cannot decide treatment meted out to them. The actor, who was travelling from Sydney to Melbourne, shared the incident on Instagram in a lengthy post.

"... At the check-in counter met a grumpy #Mel (that's her name) who decided it was 'OK' to speak curtly to 'US' (brown people!) travelling together, I was flying business and had two bags (my allowance) and she insisted and decided my half empty Duffel bag was oversized (to check in!)," Shilpa wrote.

View this post on Instagram

Subject: #Qantas airways @qantas This should get your attention! Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne and at the check in counter met a grumpy #Mel ( that’s her name)who decided it was “OK” to speak curtly to “US” ( Brown people!!) travelling together ,I was flying business and had 2 bags (my allowance)and she insisted and decided my half empty Duffel bag was oversized( to check in!!) So she sent us to check it in at the other counter dealing with “Oversized luggage” ..there a Polite lady(yes this one was) said ..”this ISN’T an oversized bag, pls check this in manually if u can at another counter” ( all this happening while the counter is going to shut in 5 mins) As the manual check in wasn’t going thru for 5 mins( we tried) I went upto #Mel and requested her to put the bag thru as her colleague said it wasn’t an oversized bag.. She refused again.. Just being adamant especially when I told her this is causing a lot of inconvenience .. We had no time to waste so we ran to the oversized baggage counter and requested her to put the bag through which she did after I told her that #Rude #Mel had issues !!!.... to which another colleague joined in an reiterated my duffle wasn’t oversized and could’ve easily been checked in. The point is .. This piece is only for #quantas airlines to know and take cognisance .. that their staff must be taught to be helpful and TONE can’t change with preference to #COLOUR .”WE” are NOT #pushovers and they MUST know that being #callous and #Rude will NOT BE TOLERATED 🙏✋🏼💔. Ps: Please tell me if that bag in the picture is oversized??!! @australia @visitmelbourne @travel #truthmustbetold #bemused #uncalledfor #standup #equality #whatswrongisnotright #instapic #travelwoes #shocking #nightmare #notcool

A post shared by Shilpa Shetty Kundra (@theshilpashetty) on Sep 22, 2018 at 6:37pm PDT

The actor said she contacted the counter dealing with "oversized luggage", where the staff told her to check in the bag manually.

"As the manual check-in wasn't going through for five minutes (we tried) I went upto #Mel and requested her to put the bag through as her colleague said it wasn't an oversized bag. She refused again. Just being adamant especially when I told her this is causing a lot of inconvenience," she added.

Shilpa said as they did not have time to waste, they took the luggage to the oversized baggage counter and requested the staff to put the bag through.

Other staff reiterated the bag was not "oversized" and could have easily been checked in.

"The point is... This piece is only for #quantas airlines to know and take cognisance... That their staff must be taught to be helpful and TONE can't change with preference to #COLOUR. 'WE' are NOT #pushovers and they MUST know that being #callous and #Rude will NOT BE TOLERATED," she concluded.

The actor also shared her picture with the bag asking if it appeared "oversized".

But that wasn't it; the 43-year-old actress also took to Twitter to share her experience. Marking the airlines in the 'subject', the actress opened up about the incident. Here's what she tweeted.


In response to the 'Life in a...metro' actress, the Qantas Airways tweeted back apologising for the inconvenience caused.


Shilpa also faced racism in the year 2007 when she participated in British reality show 'Celebrity Big Brother' and was declared the winner.