‘Pretty inspirational’: Man praised for classy act after man booted from business class seat

An Aussie traveller was enjoying his first ever business class flight with his mother when the unthinkable happened just 10 minutes in to the 10-hour journey.

An Australian traveller has been praised for his classy response after the unthinkable happened on a 10-hour flight from Australia to Hawaii.

As a reward for his tech sales achievements, Melbourne man Jameel Rehman and his mother were flown business class from Sydney to Honolulu.

But just ten minutes after sitting down and settling into his first-ever business class flight with a glass of bubbles, Mr Rehman was delivered the bad news.

Jameel Rehman and his mother were flying business class from Sydney to Honolulu as a reward for his tech sales achievements. Picture: Supplied.

However, ten minutes after settling into his seat, he was informed that he had to leave the business class seat because it was broken. Picture: Supplied.

In a video online, which quickly descends from Mr Rehman living the high life, the traveller declares: “So I have just been informed that I have to leave this business class seat because it is (broken)”.

Mr Rehman then politely packs together his gear, acknowledging the “very apologetic (and) very helpful” Qantas staff.

Instead of kicking off as expected, he walked to his economy class seat in his business class pyjamas.

A baby was heard wailing as he walked down the aisle, though Mr Rehman appeared unperturbed.

Mr Rehman politely packed his gear and walked to his economy class seat in his business class pyjamas. Picture: Supplied.

He handled the situation with class and remained optimistic, even joking about it being a gentle lesson in ego. Picture: Supplied.

“How the mighty have fallen,” he cheekily declares as he takes his seat in an empty row.

“What do you do?” he said smiling.

Mr Rehman remained optimistic as he engaged with his social media followers about the unfortunate affair.

“No hate to Qantas, I see it as a synchronicity more than anything – a gentle lesson in ego perhaps?” he joked.

He told irate followers he understood he could not fly in his broken business class chair.

Plenty in his comments praised the name for handling the incident with class.

“How you handled the situation is a reflection of why you got the top 1 per cent sales award,” one said in response.

“Absolute genuine class act,” exclaimed another.

Eventually, he and his mother were able to fly back in business class on their way home. Picture: Supplied.

Another added: “I don’t know if I could be the same you are pretty inspirational how you acted throughout this ordeal.”

And eventually, all’s well that ends well for Mr Rehman, who later posted a picture of him and his mother living it up in business class on the way home.

“It’s a happy ending folks – thanks for all the kind words,” he said, who added he was compensated.

According to Mr Rehman, his employer was paid back, and Qantas gave him a $500 voucher.

A Qantas spokesperson said the carrier had apologised for the disruption caused to Mr Rehman’s journey.

“Safety is always our main priority and unfortunately a minor technical issue meant that this seat had to be kept vacant,” they explained.

“Two days after the flight, Mr Rehman was given a downgrade refund along with a $500 travel voucher.”

It’s understood the issue was discovered by engineers during pre-departure checks and was rectified in Honolulu prior the plane’s return flight.