The devastated mother in the center of a racing row on a Qantas flight has lashed out at the passenger who criticized her son in a racist text message, declaring she hopes he lives forever with the pain he caused.
Sally Fifita was traveling home with her one-year-old son Carter on flight QF158 from Auckland to Melbourne on Sunday night when the air rage storm broke.
After a male front passenger glared at them as they first sat down, she saw him describe her as a ‘fat island woman’ and her son as a ‘black boy who kicks me’ in a text that was typing on his mobile phone.
Ms Fifita angrily confronted the passenger before he hastily attempted to delete the incriminating message and deny the allegations, she said.
“He will always regret what he did and I hope he will always remember the mother who just wanted to come home to her son,” she later said.
‘God bless his ugly soul **.’
The devastated mother in the center of a racing row on a Qantas flight cursed the passenger who criticized her son in a racist text message to live forever with the pain he caused (text is pictured)
Sally Fifita (pictured on her 2021 wedding day to her husband Siale, who had flown home for work a week earlier) angrily confronted the passenger before he hastily tried to delete the text.
Sally Fifita was traveling home with her one-year-old son Carter (pictured on flight QF158 from Auckland to Melbourne on Sunday evening) when the air rage storm broke.
The horrified mother said she had done everything possible to minimize her young son’s impact on the other passengers and had restrained him to prevent him from kicking the front seat.
But the front passenger was already furious before the couple had even sat down, he said.
“I was already dreading this return flight alone with my young son,” she said.
‘As soon as we found our seats and were trying to get settled, this man turns around, looks at my son and shakes his head.
Confused as to why he looked back, I asked him if something was wrong and he replied, “I just hope he doesn’t kick my seat all the way.”
“I looked at my son and he wasn’t even kicking his seat because he was meant to sit on me instead of his own seat.”
She said she moved her son to his own window seat and buckled him in with the child’s feet barely reaching the edge of the cushion.
“Just as we were about to fly, he turns around again and says, ‘Can you stop kicking?'” Ms Fifita revealed.
“I was so frustrated that I told him he couldn’t even get to his seat and maybe he should have paid for business class or his own plane if he didn’t want a kid behind him.”
“So while we were on the air, I could see what he was texting… this old man writing racial messages.
“After taking a photo, absolutely stunned, you better believe I faced him, even if I was making a scene.
“I feel like the entire interaction had nothing to do with my son ‘kicking’ his chair, but just how we looked at each other with his racial comments.”
Ms Fifita said the exchange left her “tired, frustrated and angry” and she fled to the back of the plane to calm down and spoke to the flight attendants when they returned.
Attendees then asked others to swap seats with the mother and son to get them away from the other traveler.
When they finally found a father traveling with his teenage son willing to swap seats, the man slavishly tried to apologize.
“The flight attendant saw how distraught she was,” Fifita said. ‘We moved the seats back.
“The man told the flight attendant that he wanted to come and apologize because he felt bad during the whole flight and she told him that she didn’t think it was appropriate.”
Ms. Fifita sincerely thanked the flight attendants and family who swapped seats with them to defuse the situation, but says other passengers ignored the request.
She added: “If you see something like that, I hope you’re not a bystander like the many people on that flight who didn’t bother to help or do anything.”
Ms Fifita says she will never fly again without her husband Siale by her side after he flew home alone earlier in the week for work.
Sally Fifita told a flight attendant about the incident, who then moved the couple to different seats in the back of the plane (pictured)
Sally Fifita says she will never fly again without her husband Siale (pictured together)
But despite the confrontation, she says it hasn’t deterred her from traveling again.
“We are glad to be safe at home and can’t wait for our next flight in the near future,” he added.
Facebook users were quick to warm to the woman.
“You are so brave, even through tears you are still the greatest person who stood up against bullying and racism,” one wrote.
‘Traveling with a small child is hard and that punk made it worse for you!’ said another.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that sis oh my god the audacity this man has,” a third commented.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Qantas for comment.
