Later, he shared the ordeal on TikTok, saying: “This is the worst experience I’ve ever had flying.”
A family photo sparks chaos
Mitchell alleges that a member of the cabin crew noticed him taking the photo, approached him, and abruptly called him an ‘idiot.’
He recalled stopping midway up the stairs, shocked that such an ordinary moment had caused such an intense reaction.
In a now-viral video, he explained: “I try and get on the plane, I take a photo of my kids … and the lady calls me an idiot.”
The father said the interaction left him feeling embarrassed and stunned after the crew member attempted to get his attention.
“I turned around in disbelief because I was halfway up the stairs at this point. I basically stormed over to her and I was like, ‘Are you serious? What did you just call me?” Mitchell recounted.
‘All she had to do was say something constructive’
Mitchell claimed he questioned the flight attendant over the insult, only to then be informed he would not be allowed to board the aircraft.
“If she had literally just said anything else, like ‘get off your phone,’ I would have done it,” he said.
He further alleged that when he protested the decision, the crew member warned him police would be waiting for him.
Shaken by the confrontation, the dad returned to the terminal before airline supervisors later overturned the decision.
Meanwhile, his passports and boarding passes remained with Pauline on the aircraft.
Mitchell claimed airport staff would not allow him to explain the situation to his family, saying: “The way they treated Pauline and the kids and not allowing me to communicate with them what was going on, was completely unacceptable.”
‘Almost reduced to tears’
Eventually, Mitchell was able to board the flight “after cooler heads prevailed,” though he admitted the experience left him visibly shaken.
He said the ordeal had him trembling and: “Almost reduced to tears because it was that embarrassing.”
He continued: “It’s one thing that she was completely out of line for calling me an idiot, I can get over that I am a big boy, and you’re probably sitting there going ‘he’s a sook’ and ‘he shouldn’t have reacted that way,’ but next time someone you’re supposed to be a customer of calls you an idiot, you tell me next time how you would react in that situation.”
Why Mitchell was stopped from boarding
As Mitchell was wearing noise-canceling headphones, he said he never heard an announcement warning passengers not to use their phones on the tarmac while the plane was being refueled, according to the New York Post.
In the viral clip, he said the crew member repeatedly told him: “You can’t take photos on the tarmac, you can’t take photos on the tarmac.”
He also maintained there were no signs or airport staff warning passengers to keep their phones away.
“Apparently, they made an announcement, but I had noise cancelling headphones, Pauline (wife) told me after the fact – I didn’t hear it, there was no notifications about it, there was no signage, no nothing.
“All she had to do was say something constructive. ‘Get off your phone, you can’t have your phone out’ and I would have been like ‘sorry,’ but she screams across the tarmac calling me an idiot.”
Jetstar has since launched an internal investigation into the incident.
A spokesperson told News.com.au: “All our customers and team members have the right to feel respected when flying with us or when at work and we’re looking into what took place in this instance.”