Even celebrities aren’t exempt from airline safety rules – just ask Russell Crowe.

The 51-year-old Academy Award winner found out the hard way when he took to social media to aim a parting shot at Virgin Australia, in full view of his 1.85 million followers and the rest of the world.

Flight attendant and New York Times bestselling author Heather Poole hit back at Crowe’s bitter tweet berating Virgin for barring a Segway board on the flight.

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“Can I ‘slam’ Russell Crowe for caring more about his children’s luxurious Christmas gift than the safety of the airplane?” she posted to Twitter.

Crowe and his sons Charles, 12, and Tennyson, 9, were preparing to jet off on a holiday on December 29, when the airline refused to allow the Segway on the flight.

It’s understood they didn’t make it past the check-in desk.

“Ridiculous @VirginAustralia. No Segway boards as luggage? Too late to tell us at airport. Kids and I offloaded. Goodbye Virgin. Never again,” he wrote.

In a response to Crowe, the airline simply pointed to their safety policy, and pre-flight details sent out prior to each flight.

“Due to the lithium ion batteries in hoverboards, these have been banned on all major Australian airlines and many around the world,” Virgin said.

Rusty seems to be a bit out of the loop on hoverboards and flying – they have been banned by many airlines for their tendency to self combust, or even explode.

Heather Poole was not impressed with Crowe’s preference for ‘luxury items’ over flight safety. Photo: Twitter

Not a good combination with an aircraft flying at 30,000ft.

Airlines including Qantas, Emirates, British Airways and many major airlines in the United States have also banned the boards.

The fires were believed to be caused by the overheating of lithium ion batteries used to power the boards.

Air transport of the batteries is strictly regulated, as the high levels of electrical energy and flammable chemicals they contain can be a volatile mix if short-circuited.

In one of the most plausible theories on the disappearance of flight MH370, which vanished on March 8, 2014, more than 200kg of batteries in the cargo hold was purported to be the cause of its downing.