Qantas crew brings 'child' rock star Justin Bieber back 'Down to Earth'

I just found out that Canadian child pop star Justin Bieber was scolded like a child on board a Qantas flight yesterday for leaving his seat while the aircraft was taxing in preparation for takeoff.

According to witnesses, the 17-year-old teen idol and his bodyguard left their business class seats to talk to members of their entourage back in coach as the plane readied for a flight from Sydney to Melbourne, despite the fact the seat belt sign was on.

Bieber is currently touring Down Under.

The cabin crew jumped to their feet and sternly ordered the pair back to their seats.

Witnesses told an Australian newspaper that one flight attendant shouted at Bieber; accusing him of being a “security risk.” She then escorted him back to his seat and told him: “if you want to act like a child, then I’ll treat you like a child.”

Good job Qantas has not introduced mandatory martial arts training for their flight attendants like I reported yesterday Hong Kong Airlines has done for their crews.

It’s nice to see, as one of Bieber’s song titles suggests, that even mega stars can be brought “Down to Earth” by air crews.

Time to rest up before my next trip

I’m back home in Toronto after a whirlwind visit to Beijing and Hong Kong and now I’ll rest up for a few weeks before heading off to Dallas on assignment for TraveLife magazine in mid April.

But I'll be doing daily blogs keeping you up to date on what’s happening in the travel world.

By the way, China continues to amaze. There’s no hotter travel destination on the planet right now and the Chinese capital never disappoints.

However, visiting that amazing city can be exhausting. The traffic chaos, noise and sea of people wear me down after a while. But each time I leave, I can’t wait to go back.

Ditto for Hong Kong – and pretty much the rest of Asia.

Asia’s turn has finally come as a preferred travel destination and the glut of new hotels and resorts being built there compliment the record number of flights now being offered to that area of the world out of North America and Europe. All this will only hasten Asia’s rise to the top of the tourism chart over the next few years.

Asia offers great value, great sights and great hospitality – and it’s only going to get better.

Good for you Asia!