A Spirit Airlines passenger was kicked off of a Los Angeles to San Antonio flight because of an offensive hoodie. And I guess this is newsworthy because, until now, we didn’t know that clothing could fail to meet the minimum standards necessary to fly Spirit Airlines.
The sweatshirt misspelled the F-word with a v instead of u, suggesting doing that act to “hate.” But the crew of that Spirit Airlines flight were gonna hate hate hate, it seems.
The passenger was placing his carry-on bag in the overhead bin prior to departure when a flight attendant approached and had him confirm his seat. Several minutes later she returned and ordered him to remove the sweatshirt due to obscene language.
At first he refused, and was told that he’d have to leave the aircraft if he didn’t comply. He removed the sweatshirt, but continued to question the rule. It was the refusal to capitulate to authority – demanding their names, so he could file a complaint – that appears to have gotten him removed from the flight.
The passenger who took video of the incident called the flight attendant a “Karen” and claimed she simply misunderstood the message of the sweatshirt.
The video’s uploader, Andrew Martin Hoel, dubbed the flight attendant a “Karen” — a pejorative term for an entitled woman who polices others’ behaviors — and claimed that she’d missed the message of the sweatshirt.
According to Spirit Airlines,
We want all our guests to feel welcome and have a great experience while traveling with us. We are aware of the video, and our team is investigating.
Airlines enforcing dress codes has become fraught, since discretion is generally left to crew on the scene with little training or consistency.
When an American Airlines passenger was kicked off a flight for wearing an ‘F-cancer’ hoodie American apologized, saying that the employee should have “taken the broader context of the message displayed on the customer’s shirt into consideration” and not enforced the rule.
Yet a passenger was kicked off of a flight for wearing an F-12 mask and the airline did not apologize. This is a little bit more controversial of a message, perhaps (anti-police) but it uses the same word, came right on the heels of the George Floyd protests (context), and the airline’s CEO started wearing a Black Lives Matter wristband shortly before the incident. The airline made Black Lives Matter pins available to employees.
Meanwhile, American told a former Miss Universe to cover up if she wanted to fly. She was wearing clothing less revealing than others on the same flight.
And Southwest Airlines has removed passengers for attire less revealing than the swimsuit that Israeli model Bar Refaeli wore on the side of one of their Boeing 737s.
Who knew, though, that Spirit Airlines had a dress code? The code of Fight Club, sure, but not of Tommy Bahama.
The F word is something that I, growing up in ass-backwards rural America, was taught was a horrific expletive that is never to be uttered especially around children.
Then I moved to high-caliber cities like San Francisco and New York and found out that people say the F word everywhere and it is just a word.
F***!
To hammer the point:
Treating the F word as an expletive =is associated with= ass backwards rural life dependent on blue states for government revenue all while voting red as much as possible against one’s own self interests.
Treating the F word as a normal word =is associated with= world class art and restaurants and entertainment and economic opportunities in scenic coastal vibrant metropolitan cities where all the bright ambitious people congregate (not to mention very beautiful especially when it comes to San Francisco and Miami… sorry New Yorkers are quite ugly)
On the post, Gary’s conclusion that these incidents are more about ‘refusal to capitulate to authority’ says it all. While I respect actual safety directives, this subjective policing of dress codes and decency standards is just a power trip. We should expect to see a lot more of this now, since the fish rots at the head, and our supreme leader is a convicted felon.
@Eileen
Please, feel free to ‘clutch pearls’ over what the city folk do, say, and wear—no one there cares what you think about them. Separately, aren’t you the commenter who often gets upset when anyone says something about Asians? I recall you claiming others were racist or xenophobic. They probably were, but remember, this isn’t a serious place, and Gary doesn’t micromanage comments, so good luck with all that.
I am perfectly fine with the passenger being removed from the flight due to arguing with the crew. Waiting for the next flight is reasonable therapy.
But the morbidly obese 300 pound man in a wife beater that thinks he’s a “stud” that’s more than ok. Or the same for the morbidly obese woman in daisy dukes with her udders hanging out. Sorry Spirit you help create this.
don’t call it a dress code. It’s a common sense.
Spirit is trash.
Spirit passengers are trash.
Spirit employees are trash.
Who cares what people are wearing (or not)? If crew or other passengers do not like it, they can look the other way. I have no way to avoid other passengers’ body odor or food odor, and/or when other passengers cannot fit into the single seat they purchased and encroach into my seat. Last week I was next to someone spilling over both armrests of the middle seat on a full flight.
If a F/A asks to change or remove your sweatshirt, follow along. Complain or blog about it later. It’s common sense, especially if you’re paying big bucks for the “Big Front Seat” on Spirit, like this guy.
Lesson number one. Comply with a request like this. Think about how you want to handle it when you arrive. If you still want to go the “why” route, do it at the arrival gate.
Pick the hill you’ll die on carefully.
None of this excuses the treatment here. But, as always, we nearly never have the full story.
Since I am not shocked by the F word nor do I, or those around me, use it casually in public, I now know I live in the “Goldilocks” zone of the US. Smart, but not snobbish. Tolerant without being so “tolerant,” you’re intolerant. Quality products, but not expensive. F yes!