Doctor claims she was asked to leave Virgin lounge for expressing breastmilk
A mother and doctor has claimed she was asked to leave a Virgin airport business lounge for expressing breastmilk.
Gold Coast women's health practitioner Dr Elise Turner said she was sitting in the lounge at Melbourne Airport yesterday when she began pumping under her shirt.
"So this is pretty unbelievable and I am beyond furious right now," Turner said in a video posted on her Instagram Story.
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Dr Elise Turner claims she was asked to leave a Virgin business airport lounge for expressing breastmilk. Instagram/@dreliseturner
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"I have been told that I can't sit here in the Virgin lounge, as a paying business class ticket holder, to express breast milk that sits under my shirt like this, because this is a private business lounge and 'we don't do that here'."
Turner said the airport lounge employee asked her to instead express in the bathroom.
She claimed the manager explicitly told her not to express in the public lounge area.
"This is just disgusting, this is 2025," Turner added.
"And this is the sort of treatment that lactating mothers are expected to deal with."
A mother's right to breastfeed is protected under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 both federally and in every Australian state and territory.
The definition of breastfeeding under this act includes the act of expressing milk.
Turner said she "politely" reminded the Virgin employee of this law.
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She claimed the manager explicitly told her not to express in the public lounge area. Instagram/@dreliseturner
"Her reply was that I am making her and other people uncomfortable, and then she put her hand on my arm and asked me to leave," Turner said.
She left the business lounge and posted a "furious" message to Instagram, detailing her experience.
A spokesperson for Virgin Australia told 9news.com.au the airline is "sorry for the way this situation was handled".
"It fell short of the high standards of care and customer service our team strives to deliver," the spokesperson said.
"We have reached out to our guest today to apologise directly."
9News understands Virgin has also spoken to the employee Turner is referring to in the video.
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