‘Drunk Karen’ booted off Jetstar flight appealing her conviction

A woman branded ‘drunk Karen’ after she was escorted off a Jetstar plane to the cheers of her fellow passengers is appealing her ‘excessive punishment’.

Erica Jayne Carlson, 42, gained internet notoriety as footage went viral of her being escorted off the aircraft by five police officers in January while those still seated laughed and mockingly sung ‘Na Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye’.

Carlson pleaded guilty to a Commonwealth charge of behaving in an offensive or disorderly manner on an aircraft at Southport Magistrates Court in March. 

In appealing the recorded conviction Carlson’s lawyer said his client had unwittingly become ‘the internet’s No.1 star’.

Lawyer Michael Milligan told the Courier Mail the $1,500 bond and nine-month good behaviour order handed down to her was ‘excessive punishment.

‘This case has all the features of someone who should have been dealt with, without a conviction,’ he said.

‘Ms Carlson wants to study and get on with her life and the conviction will impact that.’

No appeal date has been set. 

In March the court was told flight JQ361 from the Gold Coast to Avalon Airport in Victoria was ready to take off on January 8, 2023, when the incident unfolded.

Carlson was flying to the southern state to see her two boys, who were staying with their father.

A cabin crew member observed Carlson ‘fall into her seat’ and believed she was intoxicated, legal officer Kate Thomson said.

The cabin crew member formed the opinion that Carlson was not fit to fly and asked her to leave the plane, the court heard.

Ms Thomson said Carlson repeatedly refused and became argumentative, filming the confrontation as Federal Police officers were called.

Footage uploaded to TikTok – accompanied with the text ‘When there is a drunk Karen on board’ – captured officers dragging Carlson from her seat during the incident.

One person is heard quipping ‘five coppers … we could have all done it for free’ as others laugh and film the encounter on their phones.

Another is heard joking: ‘Come on mum, get off.’

Passengers began singing ‘Na Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye’, from the 1969 song Kiss Him Goodbye by US band Steam.

Mr McMillan explained the infamous footage began upon federal police entering the plane and did not capture his client’s altercation.

He said the ‘miscommunication’ with the flight staff escalated after Carlson became upset that she might not be able to fly again unless she paid for another ticket.

Carlson (pictured centre) is swamped by media outside the Southport Magistrates Court last month 

Mr McMillan also said his client’s intoxication level was not taken after she was escorted off the plane despite the cabin crew’s initial opinion of her.

The court was told Carlson had endured extra-curial punishment after footage of the altercation went viral – including with news sites in the UK and US.

‘She has already endured an unhappy, unhealthy public spotlight,’ Mr McMillan said.

‘The only thing she says that didn’t make this the worst experience of her life is because she wasn’t named at the time.’

He said Carlson – who had no criminal history – risked losing her part-time job in Lennox Head because of the unwarranted publicity.