If you’ve every traveled by air the odds are you’ve experienced a situation where you had to dash to get to your flight on time. Traffic is snarled, luggage has to be checked, and the wait at security is taking just forever. You reach the gate. Relief floods through you. The last thing on your mind is being denied access to the plane for a reason so ridiculous you’d hardly believe it happened – if you weren’t experiencing it. Here are 10 reasons various airlines have kicked people off flights.
Outfit Too Skimpy
Kyla Ebbert tried to board a Southwest flight when an attendant told her that her outfit was too skimpy. Ebbert apparently had no luggage and thus no alternate outfit. Denied access, she was told she had to go to one of the shops and buy something less revealing. She eventually was permitted to board by agreeing to pull her top up and her skirt down while being stared at by other passengers. Humiliated, she cried a great deal during the flight. You can see the outfit deemed too revealing here.
Another Outfit Too Skimpy
Setara Qassim was given similar treatment by Southwest. She had to wrap herself in an airline blanket to get permission to return to her seat. Considering the intensity of their reaction to her outfit, perhaps it was a security blanket – a national security blanket.
For contrast on those last two keep in mind that in airline-world this guy was allowed to fly. Note how the first outfit is just a few bars of music away from being cast as an extra in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He really pulls off the black, thigh-high nylons pretty well. Understudy for Dr. Frank-n-furter, we need you back stage!
Shirt Too Political
Lorrie Heasley was wearing a political T-shirt when she was thrown out of her Southwest flight. The shirt showed George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice with a caption that read Meet the F-ers in a parody of the movie of similar title. After covering up but having her sweatshirt ride up while she slept Heasley was ordered to turn her shirt inside out. She was escorted from the plane during a layover, along with her husband, when she declined. Maybe that flight crew thought the plane had two right wings.
Pants Too Saggy
In an astonishing case of “let’s jump all over someone famous enough to make an issue about it in the media” Southwest kicked off Grammy-winner Billie Joe Armstrong, front man for the band Green Day. They didn’t like his saggy pants. When asked to pull them up, he allegedly replied, “Don’t you have better things to worry about than that?” Armstrong began raising a media frenzy practically the moment he stepped off the plane via Twitter.
Man Too Fat
Continuing the trend of chucking people with media influence off planes, Southwest decided Kevin Smith was too fat to fly. There are two things to know about that. First, he bought two tickets because he knew he was large enough that it would be the responsible thing to do. He took a standby seat and the flight had only one seat left. He tried to do the right thing.
Second, Kevin Smith is the incredibly famous director of movies like Clerks, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, among other cult classic films. His remark by way of response: “You messed with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!” Smith also has an enormous Twitter following, and put the word out quickly after the episode. Then he made a movie about it.
Man Too Tall
Being 6’9″ tall is likely to cause you problems in life. Clothes shopping is tough. People ask you “how’s the weather up there?” Oh, and you can get kicked off Horizon Air. Rather than accommodating him by putting him in an exit row, which he allegedly requested, the flight attendants opted to send him packing. One wonders if they gave him a ladder to help him exit the plane or if they just assumed he was tall enough to step gingerly down to the runway.
Man Too Vulgar Because Wait Too Long
Robert Sayegh, of Brooklyn, was in a plane waiting on the tarmac during a layover in Detroit. Irritated by being stuck on the plane, he asked (allegedly out loud and rhetorically), “What’s taking so long? What the f-k is going on?” He claims he was just griping to another passenger, not directing vitriol at the flight crew. Delta took offense and gave him the boot. Since being stuck in a stuffy, uncomfortable aluminum tube for any length of time is enough to drive most people bonkers the fact he only dropped one f-word should probably earn him a medal for self-restraint.
Woman Too Rushed On Phone
Irum Abassi, a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf, was talking on her cell phone before her flight. She told the person on the other end of the phone, “Hurry up, I have to go.” A flight attendant apparently misunderstood this rapidly-spoken phrase and thought Abassi had said “It’s a go.” The attendant thought that was suspicious and had her removed from the plane.
Edgar Hopida, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, may think this is a case of Woman Too Muslim. Hopida said, “This is the kind of thing that we’re concerned about. Was it that suspicious to be removed from a plane simply for being Muslim and having a headscarf on?”
Woman Too Affectionate
Leisha Hailey was kicked off a Southwest flight for kissing her girlfriend. She is both a musician and one of the stars of The L Word, a popular HBO series featuring lesbian characters. A small firestorm raged as Hailey proclaimed that she was harassed for being gay. This is especially ironic because Southwest worked hard to brand itself as friendly to the gay community. They even have web pages dedicated to it, like this one. Awkward, Southwest, awkward.
Woman Too Sad Over Father’s Heart Attack
Ricci Wheatley was on a Southwest flight with her sister. They were traveling to see their father. Wheatley was crying incessantly, though trying to keep the volume down. She is scared of flying, but was doing so because her father had just suffered a heart attack. After declining her request for wine a flight attendant decided the crying would be too upsetting to the other passengers. Wheatley and her sister were removed from the plane. Maybe the flight crew didn’t want any crybabies on their plane.
Also written by Andrew
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Sources
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Staff Writers, Southwest boots woman for shirt, money.cnn.com
USWEEKLY STAFF, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong Kicked Off Plane for Saggy Pants, usmagazine.com
Bob Meadows, Kevin Smith ‘Too Fat’ To Fly Southwest, people.com
Staff Writers, Kevin Smith: Too Fat For 40, epixhd.com
David Parker Brown, Passenger Kicked Off Horizon Air Flight For Being Too Tall, news.travel.aol.com
AOL Travel Staff, Robert Sayegh, Delta Passenger, Kicked Off Plane For Using F-Word, news.travel.aol.com
Mari Payton and Lindsay Wilcox, Muslim Group Demands Apology From Southwest Airlines, nbcdfw.com
Christie D’Zurilla, Leisha Hailey escorted off Southwest jet after kissing girlfriend, latimesblogs.latimes.com
Staff Writers, GLBT Outreach, southwest.com
AOL Travel Staff, Woman Crying About Father’s Heart Attack Removed From Southwest Flight, news.travel.aol.com