Posted on 08/01/2004 1:16:56 PM PDT by wagglebee
MIAMI — A couple returning home from a Costa Rican vacation was ejected from an American Airlines flight because the man was wearing a T-shirt depicting a bare breast.
Oscar Arela and his girlfriend, Tala Tow, were removed from Flight 952 on Saturday after he refused to change the shirt or turn it inside out at Miami International Airport. The flight left 90 minutes late without them.
The couple, making a connecting flight from Costa Rica, said nobody on the earlier flight objected to the shirt and claimed the airline violated their constitutional right to free speech.
"It's a picture of a man and woman, and the woman's breast is showing," Tow said. "The flight attendant basically walked up to us and yelled, 'You have to take off that shirt right now.'"
American spokesman Tim Wagner said Sunday that crew members acted properly.
"The description I heard was a picture of a graphic of a naked man and woman performing a sexual act," he said. "We as an airline are in the service business, and we have the same latitude as a restaurant that says proper attire is required."
Tow said four Miami-Dade police officers and three federal security agents escorted her and Arela off the flight. She said the T-shirt image was reproduced from a Venezuelan record label.
Wagner said the couple could legally be barred from the flight even though they committed no crime. The airline gave them a refund. He did not know if they booked another flight.
"I'd like to figure out how a T-shirt that offends one member of the crew somehow impacts the safety of the flight or the ability of the flight to continue to New York," said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "If they want to permit this kind of action by flight attendants, then they better have a clear policy that is announced in advance and made known to passengers in advance."
Well they could almost make that argument. American Airlines is practically a government agency considering how much funding it gets from taxpayers.
And here I was expecting something related to the war on terror.
Pretty tacky shirt if you ask me, and prettly low class insist on wearing it out in public, but if she takes off the shirt 'right now', it wouldn't exactly end the exposure of bare breasts.
Sounds like a real classy couple there. Oh, and they left an "O" out of his wifes name. ;-)
Well, one can always hope. ;)
Whatta coupla boobs!
(Can I say that?)
I was on a Southwest flight last month with Mrs. B, and there was a tattooed guy with a shirt that had the F-word prominently (I don't recall the full message except that it was a hostile tone.) As we were toward the end of the boarding line, one of the few seats left was next to this creep. I whispered to Mrs. B as we approached down the aisle to go past him.
Thanks SWA!
Some people are too stupid to ride a bus, much less an airplane.
Well, perhaps they are not used to having people who are so dumb they don't know what is proper attire. It's their airline, they don't have to fly you if they don't want to.
That clear it up for you?
Bare breasts, even in a picture, are the devil!
she >>> he
There's a nip in the air.
Today, people come on wearing sleeveless shirts, raising their arms exposing armpit hair, a lot in need of a shower, shave and deodorant; playing their dopey rap music, and thumping other passenger's seats. Few have any respect for others' space in public transportation. I don't fly anymore. I'll take the Beemer, set it on cruise, and play Mozart, Rachmoninov, or Lizst.
Bust in the mouth coming!!!
"I'd like to figure out how a T-shirt that offends one member of the crew somehow impacts the safety of the flight or the ability of the flight to continue to New York," said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "If they want to permit this kind of action by flight attendants, then they better have a clear policy that is announced in advance and made known to passengers in advance."
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The Airline is afterall responsible for assuring their employees do not have to work in a harrassing environment?
I've seen so called "classy" people run thru the airport with barely a stitch of clothing on. I suggest next time they go on vacation she wear something skimpy instead of pictures depicting skimpy.
Had the offending T-shirt been worn by someone who "fit the profile" the couple would have had clear passage.
I'd put money on it.
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