New Jersey Family Reportedly Kicked Off JetBlue Flight Over a Birthday Cake

A disagreement over a birthday cake may cause JetBlue to be the latest airline with a public relations nightmare.

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A New Jersey woman says her children are traumatized after JetBlue allegedly removed her family from a Las Vegas-bound flight over a birthday cake. Minta Burke, Cameron, and their two children were aboard a JetBlue flight May 3 when a dispute arose over a birthday cake the family chose to bring along as a carry-on item.

According to Cameron Burke, who appears to have captured some of the incident with his phone, he was asked to remove his wife's birthday cake from an overhead storage bin.

Jersey City family kicked off flight over a cake. @JetBlue says passenger was agitated/security risk. Video appears to tell different story. pic.twitter.com/q0zQzNbHoa


“She then asked me to move it to underneath the seat in front of me, I did,” Burke told Christina Carrega of the New York Daily News. Things escalated when a second flight attendant reportedly berated the first flight attendant.

“She said I was being non-compliant,” Burke explained. “I said, ‘Miss, have you been drinking?’ Because her behavior was irrational and she stormed off.”

Burke said he approached both flight attendants to try and resolve the issue when he was then accused of being non-compliant. None of the initial exchanges are captured on video, but Burke’s footage does show airport security confirming no evidence of wrongdoing while filing their report.

“No one’s in any trouble,” one of the officers can be overheard saying.

One of the few things both parties agree on is that the plane was indeed evacuated, while the Burke’s were fully refunded for their flight at the terminal.

JetBlue issued a statement with a decidedly different version of events.

“[The customer] refused multiple requests from the crew to remove the items... became agitated, cursed and yelled at the crew, and made false accusations about a crewmember’s fitness to fly.”

You can view the video above, courtesy of ABC7’s CeFaan Kim. While no one was physically injured, as was the case with similar incidents involving American Airlines and United Airlines, JetBlue may have a public relations issue on its hands.

 

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