A Qantas passenger has been left stunned after seeing a man writing “racist” texts about her and her son after claiming the toddler kicked the back of his chair.
The woman and her one-year-old had been aboard Qantas flight QF158 from Auckland to Melbourne when she saw the disgruntled passenger describe her as a “fat Islander woman” and her son as a “black kid kicking me”.
She took to Facebook to share her story, saying the ordeal brought her to tears and had her questioning if she could ever fly without her husband again.
The mother said the tension between her and the man seated in front of her son began when he turned around and shook his head at the one-year-old.
She asked the man if anything was wrong, whom she claims responded, “I just hope he doesn’t kick my seat the whole way”.
She said she felt confused because, from her son’s position, his legs could barely dangle off his chair, let alone kick the seat in front.
The mother told the passenger in front that her son’s legs were too short to do so and added that if he was so concerned about sitting in front of a child, then he should have flown business class.
Mid-air, the mother spotted the man venting his anger to a friend via text, referring to her as a “fat Islander woman” and her son as a “black kid”.
“I feel as though the whole interaction had nothing to do with my son ‘kicking’ his chair but merely something to do of how we looked with his racial comments or simply because I had a child who was sitting right behind him,” she wrote.
The woman claimed when she confronted the man about the nasty texts, he appeared “shocked” and immediately started to delete the message.
At this point, the mother said that she and her son were both “tired, frustrated and mad”.
The mother eventually moved to the back of the plane after a flight attendant was made aware of the ordeal.
In her Facebook post, she thanked a man and his teenage son who volunteered to sit in their original seats behind the disgruntled man.
“I’m not one to share anything or write statuses but this one I was prompted to in the hopes that if you see anything like that I hope you are not a bystander like the many people on that flight who didn’t bother to help or do anything.”
Despite the incident, she and her son are doing well, but she will “definitely” not be travelling without her husband ever again.
Facebook users flocked to the comments and were quick to sympathise with the woman.
“Your so brave, even in tears you still the bigger person who stood up for yourself against such bullying and racism,” one comment read.
“Traveling with a toddler is hard and that punk made it worst for you!” another said.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that sis, my gosh the audacity this man has,” a third wrote.
Image credit: Facebook
This article first appeared on Over60.