Passenger’s Underwear Searched. Did BA Do the Right Thing?
Meg Butler April 02, 2018
British Airways may have suffered a very unfortunate PR incident.
Here’s what we know:
On March 22nd, during a British Airways flight from Gatwick to Barcelona, one passenger accused another of stealing his iPhone. The accused, Jonathan Vardon, 26, says he was forced to turn out his pockets to prove that the phone wasn’t on his person.
Despite his self-search, Vardon says that British Airways then called the police and seven machine-gun armed officers met him at the gate, held him at gunpoint and forced him and his friends to empty their pockets and “turn out their underwear” in a “degrading search.”
A spokesman for British Airways confirmed, ‘The allegation of theft was made by one of our customers and at their request, we reported it to the police.’
Also a customer of British Airways, Vardon later Tweeted:
What a surreal experience! I was wrongly accused of theft on a @British_Airways flight from London to Barcelona. My friends and I were searched by armed police and there was no apology. I was the only black person on the flight #racists
— Jonathan Vardon (@jvardon) March 22, 2018
The accusing passenger later found that he had left his phone in the bathroom. And that the man that he accused actually works for the Apple store in London.
His partner, Drew Clauson, 58, said “Several people could have been in there, but they picked out Jonathan and demanded he turn out his pockets.”
British Airways responded to his Tweet with this inquiry:
We're concerned to hear this Jonathan. If you can DM us your Booking reference, full name, email address, postal address and a contact number for Data Protection. We can look into this for you. ^Kit
— British Airways (@British_Airways) March 22, 2018
No word yet on how this situation panned out. But we want to hear what you think. Did British Airways do the right thing?
To read more on this story, go to The Mirror.
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When you are colored then you are usually targeted easily, basically you are guilty until proven otherwise.
@arcticflier you forgot the part about having to "turn out their underwear." @sddjd To answer your question it's because he was singled out for theft which you have no problem with. They searched the entire group only because they were traveling with him and most likely thought he handed the phone over to one of them. You seem very calm in light of the fact it didn't happen to you. I think it's very different if the accuser had said he saw him take his phone and put it in his pocket. But to leave his phone in the restroom then the nerve of accusing someone of stealing it I agree with the victim. He had no choice but to bring race into it. Obviously you're not his race so easy for you and others to brush him off. Race or not most likely if this happened to you and other detractors you would be livid or want to file a lawsuit against BA and the complainant.
So, Jonathan V seems of the opinion that an airline should first determine a person's race before acting on a direct accusation by a passenger? Should they have told the accuser "sorry, that person is of this/that race so we will not act"? By his own tweet he indicated they searched the entire group, so how exactly is he claiming the race angle here in any way other than it was coincidental? The substance of this story is as empty as its title.
They ought to charge the idiot that reported it stolen with false reporting.
Why do you suggest that this could be considered a PR disaster for BA? Reading the full story, one passenger accused another of theft; the accused passenger and his companions voluntarily emptied their pockets on board; the accuser then asked BA to get the police involved.... All BA did was comply with that request. The fact that 7 armed policeman subsequently met the flight is probably a bit heavy handed, but you can't blame the airline for that, or the police search methods. Had BA refused to call ahead to the police as the accusing passenger requested, your story might still be calling it a PR disaster for BA not caring about allegations of theft on board. What alternative does an airline have for onboard incidents? Seems like they're damned if they do, damned if they don't.....