Marine Corps veteran Catherine Banks was pulled off a flight from San Francisco on Wednesday when a flight attendant demanded she remove her shirt calling attention to veteran suicide. There were two problems for Banks: the message was important to her, and she didn’t have a bra on underneath.
The shirt read, “Do not give in to the war within. End veteran suicide,” and is part of the “22 a Day” collection from the Til Valhalla Project dedicated to raising awareness about the estimated 22 veterans who die by suicide each day. The flight attendant insisted that the shirt violated Delta’s attire policy.
As Banks was settling into her Comfort+ seat, the crewmember approached her, saying, “Ma’am, ma’am.” Initially confused, Banks realized she was the one being addressed when the attendant instructed her to get off the plane. Unclear about what she had done wrong, Banks complied and exited the aircraft, where she was told on the jet bridge that her shirt’s message was the issue. The complaining crewmember declared,
The woman agreed. Without bra, she turned around on the jet bridge, shielding herself from view, and replaced the T-shirt with a sweatshirt before reboarding the plane.
However she found the extra legroom seat she’d paid a premium for had been given away to another passenger and she was reassigned to a seat at the back of the plane. The incident delayed the flight, and she missed her connection. This isn’t the first time this year Delta has threatened to kick off a braless woman from its flights.
Usually airline dress code issues stem from a conflict of expectations between passengers and staff, with the passengers just trying to live their life as they normally do, staff trying to enforce vague guidance, and people about to cram into a metal tube for hours at a time that come from different backgrounds and who have different expectations. A couple of years ago a former Miss Universe was told by American Airlines to cover up to fly. She was in athleisure wear less revealing than what other passengers had on.
Hey Delta you’d better fire that flight attendant and you’d better do it publicly and quick or you are no longer going to have veterans traveling on your airline her behavior is despicable there is nothing at all offensive about trying to end veterans suicides
As a Veteran, I find this reprehensible. If she had a Free Palestine shirt on she probably would have been upgraded to first class.
There has to be more to the sto….. oh wait, it’s San Francisco.
Delta needs to make an immediate public apology. I doubt they will fire anybody but a review and retraining of their attire policies would be a good start.
@David and @Travelgirl … +1 to your wise comments . Absolutely No More Delta for me , ever .
Thank God DL FAs aren’t unionized so DL can do the right thing and fire that FA immediately plus make it public and also make a sizable donation to veterans. If the FA actually said they didn’t care about the veterans’s service then DL should also implement training to make sure their FAs aren’t more customer focused. As I recall DL allows veterans to preboard so obviously they care at some level.
Shame on DL if they don’t take the proper steps. Also hopefully this veteran goes very public with her story. Yo care more about causes like Palestine, BLM and gay/trans causes than America’s veterans is very sad!!
Wow, absolutely reprehensible and disgusting conduct by Delta. Hope this veteran forces Delta to lawyer up.
Delta… you have now lost my business. How dare you condone such behavior by your employees. Your representatives. I will no longer board your jets. And I’m hearing something quietly about Valdosta. I can not confirm. But I entirely hope it’s true. I’m sure your flight attendant will vote for Kamila. It is their choice. Or is it still Bernie Sanders?
@David P … Good suggestions , but Delta will never do any of them . You know , there are anti-veteran woke people slithering about .
I am a FA for another major carrier. This is inexcusable! If the Delta FA had an ounce of intelligence, he would know the shirt was meant to save Veterans lives. I hope Gloria Allred contacts this Veteran. The FA should be terminated.
But the Delta employees in Detroit wearing Muslim hijab and khimar coverings with Palestine pins are okay.
Reprehensible action by the flight attendant. Let us see what action Delta will take. One thing, why take off the t-shirt if the sweatshirt can be put over it? Were the flight attendant and other workers looking for a free show? The additional punishment of stealing her plus seat should also be addressed. A complaint needs to go to the DOT.
There has to be more to the story than this: how can a Delta skywitch be so arbitrary? I’m sure none of us has had such an experience ….!?
@jns … Things will change in 17 days .
Of course Delta will apologize and send the rouge flight attendant to more training. But how can the removal of an active military passenger seemingly be left up to a single, clueless member of the crew?
“Thank you for your service…now get off the plane…” Just awful.
Our country has gone insane while seemingly losing any resemblance of common sense. The Delta employee is clearly light years from being reasonable, but the real question is why didn’t any other employee on that plane (like the Captain?!!) pull the employee off to the side and let her know she was wrong on this one? Is there no actual Leadership on that plane? That is the disturbing part.
@Captain Freedom . The veteran served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 22 years , then worked for the U.S. Air Force for 15 years , she helped raise $ 150,000 to assist a paraplegic veteran get a home , and her sister is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran .
I hope that U.S. Marine Corps veterans will come to her assistance , and hopefully some Marine Attorneys .
The offending airline is in for a surprise .
Wonder what DL would do if I flew wearing my old Virgin America shirt? One of my old anti-Vietnam War shirts?
Clearly this is STUPID behavior on the part of the FA. (The pilots are probably vets and should have stepped in.) But even if the shirt did violate some policy (vague or otherwise), she willingly complied. So WTF is up with giving away her seat???
As much as I want to jump on the F-U Delta bandwagon, how many times have we seen more to the story a few days later. If this proves to be true as told, there should be a mass boycott of Delta until they make this 100% right, in public. 5,000 Sky Peso’s won’t do.
If nothing else comes of this it raised awareness of the Til Valhalla Project. I’ll be buying a shirt. I’d love to buy a hundred of these t-shirts and hand them out to passengers before we all board a Delta flight.
That flight attendant needs to be fired and this woman is owed some kind of compensation and an apology. Veteran suicide is a real thing and I can’t imagine there are too many people that think it should be encouraged to continue. I see absolutely nothing “controversial” about this statement on a tee shirt. I would imagine if the tee shirt had said “stop climate change” said flight attendant wouldn’t have batted an eye.
As a veteran – your slogan is good appropriate and needed. It should not have been called out – too much authority in a lower level employee. Perhaps equally disturbing is the statement I don’t care about your service. Delta is made up of many veterans many of whom learned their skills like flying and maintaining aircraft and leadership and management skills as veterans. You damn well ought to care about veterans and their service. Thank you for your service and my deepest apologies that you were shamed, mistreated and placed in a lesser seat than what you paid for as punishment.
Would like to hear the rest of this story since some parts don’t past muster, like why she took her t-shirt off braless on a jetbridge just to put a sweatshirt on instead of…just putting the sweatshirt over t shirt.
if the shirt was really the problem, and not something else which would appear to be the case, then DL should require the FA to do 40 hours of community service on her own time with the veterans support organization with which the passenger is involved.
Veterans pay an extraordinarily high price for being sent into harms way and veterans suicide is very real whether alot of people know or appreciate it.
1) could have been an SFO resident and/or based FA. You know? The libtard hate our military and country;
2) giving away the selected seat provides circumstantial corroboration
3) however, why not merely place the sweatshirt over the T shirt?
4) how is supporting a reduction in veteran suicides (or ANY suicide rate) offensive?
5) the FA was/is a power hungry douche
I agree that there’s more to this story than what is written. 1: Why would the woman take off a shirt in the JetWay only to put a sweat shirt on instead? Why not just put the sweat shirt on OVER the “offending” T-shirt? 2: The passenger was scanned aboard the aircraft but then deplaned to the JetWay until she complied but she never left the JetWay. So how/why would the gate agent “un-board” the passenger? Where was a “Redcoat” during this event? That is part of the required protocol for passenger removal. It doesn’t make sense. I find it odd that the passenger’s paid for seat was given away. If that is the case, then that passenger should be refunded the difference in fare OR be generous and refund the entire ticket cost and post the mileage to the frequent flyer account. As a Vietnam era USAF Veteran, IF the flight attendant was as rude as reported, then Delta should do something about that behavior. As “Judge Judy” would say, “If it doesn’t make sense, then it’s most likely not true.”
Why is it the corporate policy for some Delta Air Lines flight attendants to give passengers the bums rush, and, give away their seat and, kick them off the aircraft when they are wearing a premium T-shirt that brings awareness of the suicide problem of veterans serving our country?
This is a unbelievable. At every level. The tshirt promotes suicide prevention. It is in no way controversial. I for the life of me cannot see how it was “threatening”. And to make the woman undress in the jetbridge? Give away her paid premium seat while making her undress? This FA needs to be held accountable. As in be fired. And Delta needs to make this right. Not only to th Marine, but with a LARGE donation to help fund veteran suicide prevention.
How about a Public Awareness Campaign, by Airlines to inform the Public on Dress Code while onboard commercial aircraft? Clearly Americans need to be re taught civility, respect and decorum. Soon we will have Dress Code Check in, when we Check In.
Why is everything an issue with everyone. The shirt was not offensive not political.
Every business has the right to have a dress code but that code must be published adhered to enforced and not be discriminatory.
Many restaurants require men to wear ties women to have their shoulders covered. No sneakers etc.
Sweatpants are for the gym
Slippers are to be worn at home
Yoga pants are for yoga class
Halter tops went out of fashion
Pants are not meant to be worn below your a$$ unless you are a call guy
Grow up and act like an adult. The business is NOT your home and you can Not have it your way.
The customer is not always right
We need a time machine. I want to go back to the land of sanity.
Not sure if this is the whole story or not, but I think we all recognize that, in general, there are FA’s who are on a power trip and routinely abuse their authority. Right now, the airlines have all of the power because of the high demand for air travel. I would caution them about repurcussions when people have had enough of the bad bahavior.
@ Alert — No, nothing will change. Orange Pig will continue to lie with each breath as he cries about the election being rigged again. Fortunately, we don’t have quite enough stupid, hateful people to re-elect the treasonist. Cranial infarction would be a much easier outcome. There’s still 17 days!
@ Tim Dunn — Well said! I couldn’t agree more.
Will never fly delta again. Screw them. Horrible humans
THERE MAY OR MAY NOT BE MORE TO THIS STORY. HOWEVER, SHE DID NOT HAVE TO “STRIP.” ALL SHE NEEDED TO DO WAS PUTON THE SWEATSHIRT OVER THE T-SHIRT.
Who wrote this article? A 2 year old. Is less than a few paragraphs the offense was changed from a message on at shirt to a bra (lack of). She should be compensated significantly and the allegedly offended person should look away. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me! By kindergarten she should have learned that. The airline was in the wrong.
Only airline left on my boycott list is Frontier.
@FNT Delta Diamond
Yes, the hijab is ok, just like this veteran’s shirt should have been too. It’s an also, not an either or you douche bag.
Vincent why’s you have to make about you? Stop being a troll!
The New York Post has an article about this with the headline: “Marine Corps veteran removed from Delta flight, forced to change over ‘threatening’ shirt: ‘Just took my soul away’” It confirmed that the flight attendant causing this situation was male. He is the one who forced her to remove her shirt whereas a more reasoned response would be to have her cover it with her sweater (I personally don’t see the message on the shirt as threatening). Forcing her to remove her shirt with her not having a bra on could be considered sexual harassment.
Other sites have more details and there’s a TV news station interview of the passenger on Youtube..
Re, “Why not just cover up the T-shirt with the sweatshirt?” comments: The FA’s specific order was to remove the T-shirt. The passenger complied. Covering it up would not comply with the order and would make it possible for the passenger to remove the sweatshirt and reveal the T-shirt again once in the air. Mystery of the garment change solved!
The FA told her to take the shirt off and she complied “with the crew member instructions” to the letter. I don’t think the FAR can legally compel passengers to do anything the FA commands unless it pertains to the safety of the aircraft. Looks like a lawsuit is appropriate here.
If this is true, I would assume the FA hates the military. Seriously, I’m not joking. They should be fired — not simply because they hate the military, but they use their position of power to express that hate in ugly, abusive ways.
Not surprised at all as it is Delta Airlines. And I will bet they did not even refund the money she paid for that extra leg room seat either. First hand experience with that issue of “Oh by the way we have given away your seat and you will now be sitting in the most uncomfortable seat we can find on the plane.” Delta is number 1 on my never again list.
Guessing this was an excessively prominent protruding nipple through the t shirt problem and not the message in the t shirt problem. Still not right but more understandable.
Good Morning H2oman who posted on October 19: I agree with most of the comments here. Except for yours when you stated…”Oh, wait. It’s San Francisco.” San Francisco is irrelevant. The plane just happened to be in the city. It was probably not based there. The flight could just as likely have originated in Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Miami or any other city on the route. The offending flight attendant could be from anywhere.
Agreed on why she removed rather than covered it. Also, note that she’s military–more used to complying with orders from authority.
I strongly suspect this has nothing to do with military, but rather the FA found “suicide” somehow triggering. As for why nobody else on the crew said anything–remember, their focus is getting out on time. They aren’t going to review actions such as this because that would delay the plane.
That being said, there needs to be some accountability. I think a good starting point would be to require airlines to make clear rules about what is acceptable attire and if someone is kicked off for reasons of attire that don’t break the rules it’s treated as an IDB. (And I would do the same thing for anywhere in the process–they keep you from flying without a proper reason, it’s an IDB.)
Yet another reason I won’t fly Delta. As a veteran they can take their aircraft and sink ’em – all of ’em.
PSA : some Russian bots , like the one that posts here frequently , have a peculiar grammatical habit of leaving a space before punctuation marks , as demonstrated here . In addition to , of course , a very robotic verbiage with contextual acrobatics to slip in a political jab at every opportunity .
The right has normalized vilifying our veterans and service members. So it makes sense that people will act out in a simliar manner in day-to-day interactions such as what happened here.
Whether it’s disgracing our veterans, calling them suckers and losers, or diminishing their service-inflicted health concerns by referring to them as headaches, this is normal behavior by the right in 2024, and we should expect more of this to continue so long as the right seems to condone it and not speak up against their figureheads who do it.
While I don’t care for the FA’s handling of the situation, it’s easy to understand where they’re coming from. Delta makes significantly more investment to right-leaning candidates, and the FA likely lives in a batteground state where right-wing anti-military rhetoric is common and accepted.
Readers who are upset about Delta’s handling of this should lash out at the right-wing leaders who normalized this sort of behavior in the first place. But as a right-wing travel blog that caters largely to radicalized readers, that’s not likely to happen.
There may or may not be more to the story. Until I hear more I will not fly Delta – nor allow anyone I travel with – to book Delta. If even half of the people saying they wont fly Delta again follow through, this incident will haunt Delta for years to come.
@uncle jeff – how does the right vilify our service members? Since when is anti-military rhetoric right wing? Did you put your socks on backwards and confuse left with right?
Ya know flight attendants used to be nice and helpful………… BUT NOW they can have you kicked off an airplane for something THEY don’t agree with. In my opinion they are now no more than under paid bitches.
@Randy I literally used phrases and examples from Republican leaders. Wake up and watch what they’re doing.
@randy – Uncle Jeff is right. The god of the fascists, Donald Trump, has repeatedly attacked the service of decorated veterans like John McCain and Tim Walz, while touting his bone spur bribe as “smart thinking.” His supporters and sycophants have lapped that up, and that clearly follows at extremist anti union Delta and it’s red state crews. They also constantly cut access to mental health care, both for veterans and the general public, exacerbating the very real problem of veteran and active service member suicide. Shame on Delta for allowing this, especially when I’m sure they’re happy to see MAGA hats on board.
Hey Delta. If your employee CAN’T understand verbiage on a T-shirt, CAN be disrespectful to your Customers upon contact, CAN be disgustingly disrespectful to a long time Veteran ( Even after being told she’s a Veteran ) Can tell a female that she HAS TO take off that shirt before getting back on the plane, and then take her premium seat away from her, its time to release this idiot, revise your employee handling of these types of policy enforcements, and create a checks and balances on your flights. I suggest the Captain or head Fligh Attendant have final say on enforcement on these issues. I’m going to follow this incident. Until there’s a complete and reasonable disposition towards Veteran Banks I will not book another flight with Delta.
This is awful. Was the flight attendant so dumb she didn’t realize the shirt was about preventing suicides? This is somehow offensive to anyone? I understand there are bad passengers and they need to be dealt with. But there are far too many incidents of flight attendants being wrong, and they need to be put in their place by their employers. And if they’re going to start enforcing dress codes they need to say at ticketing exactly what those are, and enforce them for everyone equally. (I notice most of these complaints are against women while the man with no shoes and baggy shorts with privates showing are allowed.)
Everytime I hear something like this my first thought is I’m only hearing a part of the story. It makes me wondervwhy all FAs I have contact with are reasonable folks who at worst are a little lazy.
It’s sad that the Delta Flight Attendant does not realize the reason she has the freedom to be in the position she serves is because veterans are the people who have made the sacrifice for her freedom. To have her tell the Marine veteran that she did not care about her service to this country is the ultimate insult.
I have been a longtime fan of Delta, but that is no more. I have supported the Valhalla Project to end Veterans suicide for years and I proudly wear their tees at least once a week! The audacity to speak to a veteran this way, or any customer. Delta has become an unacceptable company that hires unacceptable employees now. No more Delta for me.
Was the Delta flight attendant able to walk down the aisle without having to turn sideways? Was she popping the buttons on her screaming pants?
Disgusting way to treat a veteran. Delta should be ashamed of themselves.
It was because she was braless, obviously. Still seems rather silly, but many men cannot behave acceptably around semi-visible breasts.
The shirt wasn’t offensive, but Uncle Jeff is.
I applaud wearing a shirt that says End Veteran Suicide.
Delta needs to look into this situation. As a Delta platinum member for over 30years I am deeply troubled by this situation and the lack of empathy for our veterans.
Extremely poor form, worthy of a major sanction against the airline. And just for the record- go f$%k yourself with the remark about the right vilifying veterans. You are a fool to suggest such, and diminish any value to your lengthy post. Silence yourself until your thoughts are coherent.
The idea that the Right is anti vet is projection at its finest.
I know it. You know it. We all know it. A woke snowflake hard left Democrat who weaponized his (pathetic) soy boy ‘power’ against a female member of the armed services who volunteers to prevent veteran suicide. This is beyond despicable.
The right is anti veteran? OMG someone is incredibly delusional.
Or a moron.
I ‘m not sure.
FWIW I am a veteran.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought—the most essential qualities of liberty.
Dump Tr…, and Vote. We all know the true value of a person who has served this country while people who disrespect them sleep soundly in thier beds and wake up refreshed to spew more poison toward America’s warriors. This is our time to change the narrative.
Those who are attacking the people pointing out how the right has vilified veterans, are you simply covering your eyes and ears whenever your Dear Leader speaks? It does my head in how you let things slide as long as it was said by someone with an R next to their name.
Obviously the flight attendant was thinking of the optics of her stupid request or even Delta’s position on supporting veterans, active duty and their families. They are even a huge military charter and CRAFT carrier. Delta should give the FA a permanent time out and will need to make a seven figure donation. The #1 and Captain also need to chip in for going along with this and the AFA should pony up if she’s a member.
The question for large companies in our newer softer style management world how do we keep employees in line with corporate values while on the job and representing our companies. At the same time we’re espousing being genuine and asking employees to use their brains at work. We’re all in trouble.
Uncle Jeff is wrong. The only people that regularly vilify military members and veterans are the left-wing pansies.
@ cairns — Maybe they were just talking about the “right’s” treasonist leader, who might as well have spit on the graves of soldiers. The guy is a piece of human garbage.
@Uncle Jeff — Are you an idiot or just acting like one?
Wouldn’t the story be a little less dramatic if she would simply put her sweatshirt on over the tshirt? I just don’t understand the necessity of the undressing.
Funny how self-proclaimed conservatives will decry the right being called anti-veteran, but not decry Tangerine Palpatine for saying anti-veteran things. The idolatry is palpable
If true, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be, the FA should be fired and the captain and purser disciplined.
The comments about the Right are some seriously delusional nonsense
I would like to know what is offensive about preventing veterans’ suicides, and why this Delta FA has a unilateral right to kick a paying premium passenger off a flight for such a message. Something seriously wrong with Delta procedures and attitudes, it appears.
Uncle Jeff is wrong. The right loves the military and America. Dont know where he got his info from but I live in a heavy right area and they all support the military
LMAO, already full of BS!! An FA does not remove passengers a CA or CRO does also she said the FA got on the Jetbridge with her… LIE an FA cannot legally step off a plane when PAXS are on board it is a fine per the FAA.
Interesting…my comments were deleted…and they were polite but obviously didn’t meet the criteria of the article’s author! But then again, the First Amendment only apples to the governments.
appalling, I really want to see Delta’s explanation here.
I think most Republicans value veterans. However, Trump most certainly does not. To him, veterans are “losers and suckers.” From the publication, Military Times:
Trump publicly blasted McCain, saying “He’s not a war hero.” He added, “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump on Memorial Day 2017 had gone with his chief of staff, John Kelly, to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly’s son, Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, and said to Kelly: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Trump also referred to former President George H.W. Bush as a “loser” because he was shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in World War II.
And there’s many many more.
I haven’t flown Delta in a long time but now I just won’t.
Disabled Vet with PTSD from harassing, aggressive belligerent people in positions of authority. Don’t need it from civilians too!
It wasn’t the left that called Veterans suckers and losers it was trump. It was trump who said Senator John McCain wasn’t a hero.
This isn’t about politics! It’s about one of our veterans being treated so badly! What is Delta going to do about this? The flight attendant is in the wrong job and Delta deserves to go out of business if this is how they treat their customers. I certainly won’t fly Delta ever again!
F Delta
F this flight attendant (why not name her?!)
Flight Attendants making decisions to remove non-violent or abusive passengers is too prone to “personal” interpretation of what is threatening, in this case it seems that the flight attendant should just go over the flight safety and stand down.
Translation: “DELTA SUPPORTS VETERAN SUICIDE”
I see a lot of conflicting comments about how the right treats veterans. The problem here is that you are lumping all of them together. The veteran who fought well and either was not harmed or recovered from their injuries are considered good. But the ones that have lasting injuries are seen as failures.
And I will also say there are a lot of people whose idea of “solving” a problem is removing any mention of it. If they don’t see it it doesn’t exist. Thus any indication of an unsolved problem is objectionable.