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.
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.
I applaud wearing a shirt that says End Veteran Suicide.
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.