Qantas flight drama as mum left Melbourne ‘disturbed’ by passenger’s racist text about toddler

A New Zealand mother was “disturbed” to discover racist text messages about her young son from a fellow passenger on board her Qantas flight.

The mother, who lives in Melbourne, was flying home from Auckland with her toddler on Sunday after celebrating a wedding when the man sitting in front of them caused a commotion.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Traveler’s genius “hack” to stop noisy passengers.

Check out the latest news and stream for free on 7plus >>

Tensions began to rise when the man turned and “shook his head” at her son after realizing the boy was sitting behind him.

The mother said she was confused and asked if there was anything wrong, only to say “I just hope he doesn’t kick my seat all the time”.

She put her one-year-old in the window seat not directly behind the man to avoid further confrontation, adding that there was no way he could step as he “could barely keep his feet off his own chair.”

But the man still found reason to complain and turned to tell the family to stop kicking his chair.

“I then got so frustrated and told him he can’t even get to his seat and maybe if he didn’t want to have a kid behind him he should have paid for business class or let alone go on his own plane,” she wrote mother on facebook.

“Absolutely Stunned”

While the plane was in the air, the mother was “absolutely stunned” to discover the man was texting commenting on her son’s weight and skin color.

“I feel like the whole interaction had nothing to do with my son ‘kicking’ his chair, just something to do with how we looked with his racist comments, or just because I had a kid that sat right behind him,” she said.

The text said the man had “behind him a beautiful fat islander with her black child,” according to a photo in the message.

With her son crying throughout the flight, adding to her stress, the mother “just broke down” and was “distraught” at the ordeal.

“Tired, frustrated and angry,” she took her son to the back of the plane, where another passenger and his son agreed to swap seats.

The mother reported the incident to staff, who “did everything to make sure we were okay” for the remainder of the flight, but she declined to take the matter further.

She said she was grateful for the staff who helped and the passengers who swapped seats, but the shameful ordeal ruined her flight.

“Nevertheless, my son and I are fine and we will definitely not be traveling without my husband again,” she said.

A Qantas spokesman said all passengers are expected to behave respectfully towards other customers and the crew throughout the journey.

“Should a client feel unwell during their trip, they should raise it with a member of our crew who is trained in how to deal with various situations, as they did on this occasion,” they told 7NEWS.com. ouch