Most airlines will kick a passenger off a flight for being drunk or acting unruly. But one airline has taken removing passengers to a new level.
Southwest Airlines is no longer just known as America’s premiere discount airline. It has now earned the reputation of being “trigger-happy” when asking passengers to leave their aircrafts.
Here are a few examples:
TOO MUCH CLEAVAGE
Recently, Southwest told a customer wearing an open flannel shirt that her cleavage was “inappropriate.” The customer, a self-described large-chested woman, was told she would be kicked off if she didn’t button up her shirt. She refused, prompting the airline to offer her an apology and a refund, while maintaining that it has the right to boot anyone “whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive.”
GIRL ON GIRL KISSING
In 2011, actress Leisha Hailey was kicked off a Southwest flight for kissing her girlfriend. She was reportedly told by the flight attendant that Southwest was a “family airline” and that “kissing was not okay.” Southwest later said Hailey’s kissing was excessive, but Hailey responded, “I didn’t realize a small peck on the lips is regarded as excessive.”
BEING OPENLY MUSLIM
Irum Abbasi, a headscarf-wearing Muslim, sued Southwest in 2011 after she was kicked off her flight over suspicions that she was a terrorist. A flight attendant thought she heard Abbasi say, “It’s a go” on her cellphone, when in fact Abbasi had said, “I’ve got to go.” Even after she was interviewed by federal security agents, and deemed not to be a threat, she was still denied boarding her original flight because the crew was “uncomfortable” having her onboard.
SAGGING PANTS ON THE GROUND
In 2011, Southwest booted Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong because his pants were sagging too low. The flight attendant reportedly demanded that he pull his pants up, to which he responded, “Don’t you have better things to do than worry about that?”
SOBBING
Southwest booted two adult sisters in 2011 after one started to cry because her father had just had a heart attack. One sister ordered a glass of wine, and the flight attendant reportedly responded, “I think you’ve had enough.” Southwest later claimed that the passenger had engaged in a “verbal altercation,” though she testified that it was actually a very soft and quiet kind of cry.
OVERWEIGHT
In 2010, Southwest made headlines when it kicked off director Kevin Smith for being overweight. Smith responded with a flurry of tweets which eventually forced Southwest to apologize. “You f*cked with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!” Smith tweeted.
SKIMPY SKIRT
In 2007, Southwest booted a college co-ed for wearing an outfit that was apparently too skimpy — a white denim mini-skirt. Critics called Southwest’s reaction “over the top” since the woman’s outfit was a lot more clothing than what she usually “wears on her job as a Hooters waitress,” says Mike Celizic at Today.
INSULTING BUSH
In 2005, Southwest kicked off a passenger for wearing a T-shirt that some of the crew found offensive. It featured the faces of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice, above the phrase “Meet the Fockers.”
