JetBlue kicks Black family off plane because of birthday cake
Has anyone taken a train across country recently? What’s that like? Because it is starting to seem like the odds of safely catching a flight are steadily decreasing. New York Daily News reports that a family is planning on filing a lawsuit against JetBlue after being kicked off of a plane for bringing a cake onboard. Cameron and Minta Burke and their two children were aboard a flight leaving New Jersey so they could celebrate Minta’s 40th birthday in Las Vegas before things took a turn.
“A flight attendant nicely asked me to remove the cake from that compartment, so I moved it to another one,” said Cameron. “She then asked me to move it to underneath the seat in front of me, I did.”
The Burkes claim that a flight attendant then came and accosted both the flight attendant the Burkes had been talking to and the family.
“She said I was being non-compliant,” Burke said. “I said, ‘Miss, have you been drinking?’ Because her behavior was irrational and she stormed off.”
This exchange apparently escalated the situation as another flight attendant soon approached the family and asked them to leave the plane. After refusing, two Port Authority police officers boarded the plane to investigate. One of the officers can be seen in the video telling the flight crew that he sees no wrongdoing by the Burke family. Meanwhile, the children were growing noticeably uncomfortable and scared.
Since the officers didn’t go along with the plan, JetBlue staff made everyone get off of the plane to remove the Burkes. They were given a full refund while their luggage was still sent ahead to Las Vegas for his mother to pick up.
JetBlue still claims no wrongdoing for the altercation and blamed it on the Burkes placing the cake in the wrong overhead bin and refusing to move it.
“The customers became agitated, cursed and yelled at the crew, and made false accusations about a crew member’s fitness to fly,” said JetBlue spokesman Doug McGraw.
“After the customers refused to speak with a team leader about the situation, the Port Authority Police Department was called and the entire aircraft deplaned.”