JetBlue reportedly kicked off a family from boarding one of its flights, and apparently, it was over a birthday cake.
The incident continues the string of reports that have recently painted several airlines in bad light, including the highly controversial video of a passenger being dragged out of an overbooked flight.
Family Gets Booted Off JetBlue Flight Over A Birthday Cake
A family on a flight to Las Vegas was booted off a JetBlue flight earlier this month for the strangest of reasons — a birthday cake.
The incident happened in May 3 onboard Flight 611, before it took off for Las Vegas from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. However, reports of the event only surfaced recently after the family uploaded a video that they took of what happened that day.
Cameron Burke, his wife, Minta, and their two kids were headed to Las Vegas for Minta's 40th birthday, and they had a cake from the famous Tonnie's Minis bakery in Harlem as part of their carry-on luggage. They placed the cake in the overhead bin as they took their seats in the last row of the airplane.
Cameron said that one of the flight's attendants nicely asked him to remove the cake from the compartment where they placed it, so he moved it to the next one. The attendant then asked him to move the cake beneath the seat in front of him, and he followed her request.
Another flight attendant then appeared, berating her colleague first and then directing her attention to Cameron.
"She said I was being non-compliant," said Burke. "I said, 'Miss, have you been drinking?' Because her behavior was irrational and she stormed off."
Afterward, another airline employee approached Cameron and requested him and his family to exit the plane. He refused to do so and started recording the incident using his mobile phone after police officers were called to assess the situation.
The video showed two officers asking questions to the Burke family. The son, 7-year-old Cameron Jr., is seen crying, while the daughter, 9-year-old Camille, said that she was starting to feel scared.
The entire plane was asked by JetBlue representatives to vacate the flight to force the Burke family to leave. The other passengers were then reboarded, while the tickets of the family were refunded. However, they were asked by JetBlue to leave its premises in the airport.
JetBlue's Side Of The Story
According to JetBlue, the Burke family was the one at fault for refusing several times to move the birthday cake from the compartment that was designated for safety and emergency equipment.
"The customers became agitated, cursed and yelled at the crew, and made false accusations about a crewmember's fitness to fly," said Doug McGraw, a spokesman for JetBlue. He added that police officers were then requested to handle the situation, and the captain of the flight made the decision to kick the Burke family off the flight.
McGraw added that the circulating video did not depict the whole incident, insisting that the Burke family initiated the incident.
Airline Controversies Continue
The situation with the Burke family concerning JetBlue is the latest in a sting of controversies surrounding how airlines treat their passengers, though United Airlines is the lone offender in recent incidents.
In addition to the story of Dr. David Dao being dragged off an overbooked flight after refusing to give up his seat for United Airlines employees, the company also stopped two teenage girls from boarding a flight for wearing leggings, caused the death of a bunny set to become the world's largest, and forced a passenger to pee in a cup.
