Qantas Offloads Macquarie Exec Who Refuses to Turn Off Mobile Phone

It is not just unproductive assets that financially challenged Qantas is shedding from its system, but also passengers with disruptive behaviour.

One such passenger who was offloaded from a Qantas jet in Los Angeles on May 22 was Alan James, a senior managing director of the Macquarie Group based in New York, Western Advocate reports.

Mr James reportedly refused to turn off his mobile phone while aboard flight QF 108. A flight attendant requested the Macquarie executive, who was in business class, to turn off his cellphone while the plane was taxiing at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Because of his behaviour, Mr James was ordered off the jet and stopped from boarding a connecting flight to Sydney. The FBI confirmed that Qantas notified the agency of the incident but there were no federal charges filed against the passenger.

However, he was permitted to board another Qantas plane bound for Sydney the next day since the airline policy to prohibit disruptive passengers from flying is only for 24 hours.

Mr James, according to reports, used to head Citigroup's investment banking in Australia and moved in 2005 to Macquarie which eventually assigned him to its New York office.