I felt that the general forum was a better place for this article instead of the JetBlue FF forum.
A woman wearing baggy shirt and short shorts was
kicked off a Jetblue flight to PBI.
A Harlem financial consultant wants JetBlue to pay for booting her off a Florida-bound flight after an airline worker accused her of not wearing panties.
Malinda Knowles, 27, claims in a Queens Supreme Court lawsuit that a JetBlue supervisor put a walkie-talkie between her legs to see what she had on under her baggy T-shirt."He said, 'I don't want to see your panties or anything but do you have any on?'" Knowles recalled yesterday.
She said fellow passengers on the July 13, 2010, flight to West Palm Beach watched in horror as she was confronted.
The former fashion model said she was wearing a baggy blue T-shirt over a pair of dark denim short-shorts she had tossed on after waking up at 4 a.m.
<snip>
After showing off her shorts, Knowles returned to the plane, but was told by the same walkie-talkie-wielding supervisor that the pilot would not take off with her aboard.
"He said, 'The captain is refusing to fly you today. We need to remove you from the flight,'" said Knowles, quoting the supervisor. "We need to remove you from the flight."
As passengers grew upset and grumbled about the delay, Knowles acquiesced.
My thoughts:
1) Regardless of my other thoughts, the captain was out of line. Why? If it is not a safety issue, then at least have consideration for the OTHER passengers on the plane who were subject to a delay and inconvenience. And if airlines want to start enforcing rules on clothes, then they should let that be the discretion of the Gate Agent where some compromise can be made before it is too late. The pilot should stick to worrying about the safety of the plane.
2) The lady used to be a fashion model? For what? The Annual Crackdealers Show?
3) Let's be honest. If I wonder if the lady looked like
Rihanna in this getup, would she have been kicked off. I don't think so. To be fair, I would be thrilled if Rihanna sat next to me in that outfit and not so thrilled if that ex"fashion model" sat next to me.
4) People of all races (just check the white fat lady in stretchy sweatpants sporting an ugly cameltoe) are dressing like slobs these days. Now, I can't expect people to dress well for a $100 plane ride. Hell, I dress very casually. But can we have at least minimum standards? This lady is a financial consultant now and she is dressed like that? I don't care if the meeting is the next day. How long does it take to wear regular slacks or even regular shorts? 2 minutes?
5) What's the pilot's problem with the no panties? That is one less place to hide a bomb!!!!
6) If the airline employee really put a walkie talkie under her shirt, he is lucky she did not punch his lights out. Then again, with the post 9/11 paranoia, airline employees can get away with stifling common sense retaliation in the name of airline security.