Qantas has banned a Melbourne man from flying with them after he asked to be removed from a flight taking an asylum seeker from Melbourne to Darwin for deportation.
Paul Leary has filed a complaint with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal's human rights division, on the grounds that the ban discriminates against him on the basis of his political belief.
The 51-year-old was booked on a flight on February 2 this year and arrived at Melbourne Airport to find asylum seeker advocates handing out information about a Sri Lankan man who was on the flight.
The 25-year-old Tamil asylum seeker, known as Puvaneethan, was being flown to Darwin in preparation for being deported after the Refugee Review Tribunal found him not to be a refugee.
A female protester bought a seat on the flight and refused to sit down during take-off preparations.
Mr Leary said that while the protest was taking place, he and his business partner decided they wanted to leave the plane because they were not comfortable with the man's treatment.
"This occurred in the most polite way that you could - by standing up, pressing the call button and getting a Qantas steward to come over, who said 'what's the matter?'"
Mr Leary said his colleague told the steward she was not comfortable being on the flight and agreed to leave the plane.
"I stood up and just queried what was going on, the steward said 'well what would you like to do sir?' and I said 'I'm not comfortable either, I'll get up and I'll leave as well.'"
Mr Leary, who has worked as a human relations executive for 25 years and now works for a social justice organisation, said he and his colleague did not have any links to asylum seeker advocacy groups and did not know there would be an asylum seeker on the flight.
He said they at no point tried to disrupt or delay the flight and were not directed to leave the plane.
Mr Leary said they left the plane without anyone from Qantas speaking to them and spoke briefly to Australian Federal Police officers once they left the plane.
Four days later, having made it to Darwin with a different airline, the pair went to Darwin airport for their Qantas trip home to Melbourne.
Mr Leary said a Qantas manager told them they could not board their flight because they were subject to a no-fly ban and a security review.
In a letter sent a fortnight after the initial incident, Qantas informed Mr Leary that the ban would be in place until further notice while the security review was undertaken.
"Your actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated," the letter said.
The flight ban applies to all Qantas or Jetstar flights as well as any codeshare flight operated by another airline, such as Emirates. Mr Leary's Qantas Club and Frequent Flyer membership has been also suspended.
The airline's conditions of carriage state that it can refuse to carry a passenger "if we have notified you in writing that we will not carry you on our services".
"The notice will give details of the period for which it will apply," it states.
Mr Leary said he did not receive any such notice before he attended Darwin airport.
"Qantas have provided no details on their review process or how you can have a say," he said.
"There is a complete lack of natural justice and I find myself in a kafkaesque type scenario in which a decision will be reached and I will never be spoken to."
A Qantas spokeswoman said: "A number of passengers were identified as being involved in the on-board incident, causing the flight to be delayed by almost an hour.
"A no-fly notification has been issued by Qantas to those passengers while the incident is investigated by the AFP.
"As the incident is under investigation, it is not appropriate to comment further."
A date has not been set for Mr Leary's VCAT hearing.
