Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra was not pleased with the way she was treated by a Qantas ground staff, and she didn’t waste any time to let her Instagram followers know, in an angry post on Sunday.
The 43-year-old lashed out at the Australian flag carrier after she allegedly encountered a “grumpy” ground staff member who she said was being offensive and unnecessarily “rude” at Sydney Airport following an altercation over her cabin luggage.
The Bollywood diva was travelling to Melbourne to judge a beauty pageant when the incident occurred.
In her post, Shilpa wrote: “WE are NOT #pushovers and they MUST know that being #callous and #Rude will NOT BE TOLERATED.”
Further narrating the incident, the furious actor wrote that she was prevented from checking-in her “half empty duffel bag” and forced twice to approach the “oversized luggage” counter a few minutes before the boarding was closing.
“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’,” she wrote.
However, after juggling between the two counters, she was later assured by another staff member that her that her duffel was perhaps “not oversized” and could have easily been checked-in.
Alleging that the behaviour of the staff was in fact racially motivated, Ms Shetty wrote that she has written the post to bring the matter to the attention of Qantas management.
"This piece is only for Quantas airlines to know and take cognizance that their staff must be taught to be helpful and tone can't change with preference to colour.”
Reacting to the allegations, Qantas apologised to the actor via a tweet.
This isn’t Shilpa’s first “racial” encounter.
She grabbed the attention of international media in 2007 after she faced what were widely seen as racist remarks from a co-contestant on the fifth edition of the British reality TV show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’.
Shilpa not only went on to win the show but also shot to international fame which resulted in reviving her fledgeling career.
