An Influencer Is Claiming She Was “Bullied” After She Delayed A Whole Flight Just To Eat Oysters
"[It] was not my fault, it was a genuine mistake. There is no reason to pick on me because I have influenza, I mean I'm an influencer."
A Byron Bay-based influencer is beefing with Jetstar after she delayed an entire flight when she decided to leave the airport to eat a plate of oysters.
Influence Ruby Tuesday Matthews has called out air carrier, Jetstar, because she feels staff allowed passengers to “bully” her after she delayed a Ballina to Sydney flight to eat oysters.
The drama started on Thursday afternoon when the Jetstar flight departing from Byron Bay was delayed due to technical issues. While fixing these issues, staff asked passengers to stay in the airport as they awaited the arrival of an engineer from the Gold Coast.
With a new estimated departure time two hours away, Matthews and a friend decided to leave the airport in search of some food. After finding a spot that served oysters, Matthews snapped a pic of her shellfish and wrote: “Flight delayed, fuck my life.”
Due to the minor plane issue, the approximate new departure time was set to be 7.30pm, but the early arrival of the engineer meant that the flight ended up boarding ahead of time.
As a result, Matthews decision to leave the airport ended up delaying the late flight a further 30 minutes, which annoyed already frustrated passengers.
After a phone call from Jetstar staff, the model finished her oysters and finally returned to the airport to board the plane. When Matthews arrived, passengers heckled the influencer by clapping for the late arrivals and shouting phrases like “thank you”, “how were the oysters” and “what a day to be pretty”, according to video sourced by Daily Mail.
Apparently a wildly traumatic experience for the Byron Bay model, Ruby Tuesday Matthews then uploaded a four minute-long rant once she landed to talk about the “pretty traumatic flight experience” she had on Jetstar.
Deflecting all blame, Matthews claimed that it wasn’t her fault because she was hungry and hadn’t heard that passengers weren’t meant to leave the airport.
“I’m sorry, but it really wasn’t my fault… we were told it would pick up at 7.45pm. I hadn’t eaten since my smoothie that morning because I had been to back-to-back meetings,” she said to camera. “I walked out, I did not hear the second announcement that apparently said ‘do not leave the airport’.”
“I didn’t hear that, I swear to god, I wouldn’t have left the airport. I’m not a dickhead. I do have respect for everyone else.”
Credit: @rubytuesdaymatthews via Instagram / Daily Mail
The main issue that Matthews had with the “bullying” she faced when she returned as she wasn’t the only passenger who left the airport. The influencer alleges that when another late passenger arrived, they weren’t treated the same way as her after a flight attendant requested everyone stay silent.
“I was basically bullied by about seven to 10 to 14 people at different times, then they made comments about my children. No Jetstar staff stopped this at any time. I copped it hard for about 15 minutes,” Matthews continued.
“I was scared for myself because number one, I was by myself… number two, no one else who was later than me copped any abuse, it was just me alone.”
Matthews then implied that while she could “handle” the abuse she copped, someone weaker might’ve killed themselves over the oyster comments she faced.
“One day, there is going to be another girl not as strong as me and they’re going to hop on that plane and they are going to cop that and they are going to hop off the other end and they are going to kill themselves,” Matthews continued. “Just be kind people. To the one guy who was kind to me, thank you. To everyone else – grow up.”
“I missed out on stuff too, I get it, but that was not my fault, it was a genuine mistake there is no reason to pick on me because I have influenza, I mean I’m an influencer.”
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When Ruby Tuesday Matthews was contacted for comment, her management told Junkee that the influencer “won’t be doing any further media at this time as we want this to be put behind her”.
Despite this request to put OysterGate behind her, Matthews actually went on another social media tirade yesterday afternoon about how Jetstar desk staff treated her at Sydney airport.
While at Sydney airport ahead of boarding her Virgin flight back to Byron, Matthews alleged that she spoke to Jetstar staff about the incident. Documenting the events following the interaction on her story, the influencer then claimed that Jetstar staff asked to search her phone to ensure that Matthews hadn’t recorded the ground staff who spoke to her.
But clearly not all that traumatic, Matthews appears to also be taking the piss out of the whole things with the influencer creating an ‘OysterGate’ highlight on her Instagram, which is followed by 211,000 people. According to her stories, Matthews is also actually currently chomping down on some more oysters with her agent, Roxy Jacenko, right now and has also enjoyed the treat almost every day since the Thursday night OysterGate debacle.
In one video, the influencer quips: “If I have not boosted the Australian oyster farming economy right now, I don’t know what the fuck I’ve done in the middle of a pandemic.”
Ah, influencers. They’re just like you and me — except they’re not, and will apparently do anything for some sweet, sweet oysters.
Junkee has reached out to Jetstar for comment. They did not respond at time of publishing.