Virgin Australia review by Bianca-Lee Grossett

I am writing to make a formal complaint about the humiliating, discriminatory, and distressing treatment I received from your cabin crew on **Flight VA697 from Melbourne to Perth**. Upon boarding, I urgently needed to use the lavatory as I had unexpectedly started my menstrual period. When I quietly asked to use the toilet, **the crew member refused my request**. I explained that it was urgent, and when I begged to be allowed to go, she appeared offended and **told me that if I was “sick,” I should get off the plane.** This response was inappropriate, degrading, and deeply insensitive. Menstruation is not an illness — it is a normal biological process. I was well-prepared but was caught off guard, and simply needed a few moments of privacy to manage the situation hygienically. During the flight, a **manager approached my seat** and escalated the humiliation even further. In front of the two male passengers seated beside me, I was **forced to explain that I had blood dripping down my legs and urgently needed to use the toilet.** Rather than treating me with dignity, she told me again that if I was “unwell” I should not be flying, and then **demanded that I go and apologise to the steward** for my “urgent” tone when I had requested the toilet earlier. I was then **made to apologise to the steward a second time — in public — once again having to explain that I had blood running down my legs** and needed the bathroom urgently. By that point, much of the cabin had witnessed my humiliation. I cannot overstate how degrading and traumatic it was to have my private health situation exposed, questioned, and used as grounds for public embarrassment. I was left in tears and deeply shaken. There are countless compassionate, discreet, and professional ways such a situation could have been handled. Instead, I was **treated like I had a disease**, stripped of my privacy, and made to apologise for a basic bodily function.