A New Jersey family was kicked off a JetBlue flight after a crew member deemed their birthday cake a security risk, according to multiple reports.
Minta and Cameron Burke were aboard a flight from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City to Las Vegas with their two young children, Camille and Cameron Jr., on May 3 when a flight attendant asked them to move their cake from the overhead bin. After Cameron moved the cake under his seat, a second crew member confronted the first flight attendant.
“You could see the gestures — then she was pointing to her, ‘Did you tell him he couldn’t put anything in the overhead compartment?'” Cameron recalled to ABC 7. “I had approached them, and I said everything was fine, and she said, ‘Sir, this does not involve you.’ When she told me I had been noncompliant, then I said, ‘Ma’am, had you been drinking?’ because her behavior was not normal.”
Airline police were brought on board as Cameron began recording the incident on his cellphone. “We were just so happy. Couldn’t wait to get to Las Vegas, and all of a sudden this occurred, and my two children are screaming, crying,” Minta told the outlet. “They’re confused, not knowing what’s going on. They were traumatized.”
The airline then ordered all passengers to get off the plane in order to remove the family of four, whose tickets were refunded at the terminal. “It’s just crazy. I’m surprised. I’m surprised. I thought highly of JetBlue before,” Minta said.
In a statement to ABC 7, JetBlue said, “[The customer] refused multiple requests from the crew to remove items … became agitated, cursed and yelled at the crew, and made false accusations about a crew member’s fitness to fly.”
