Originally Posted by
TSORon
In the case here, the ultimate authority on who can or cannot board an aircraft is the aircraft commander. To deny someone passage on his aircraft he / she must have a tangible and rational reason for the decision. In this case it was the comfort, and possibly the safety, of the other passengers on board the aircraft. It was his decision and his alone. None of us were there, we don’t know the entire situation or the series of events that led to the PIC’s (Person In Charge) decision, so any of us second guessing that decision is inane. We don’t have the requisite knowledge of that specific situation required to make such judgment.
While that may be true, that also doesn't preclude the fact that this may have been (and most likely is IMO) a bad decision on the captain's part.
What it comes down to is did the TSA do their job? In theory, if TSA did their job properly, then he should have been free and clear of any objects that could threaten a plane. We'll assume that they did in this instance, and he had nothing on him. The only thing that can be inferred is that the captain was afraid that he MIGHT do something based on the shirt he was wearing.
Now, we have a serious problem in this country if we start banning people on what they MIGHT do, even if there is no evidence that he has even planned to do something. Any person on that flight MIGHT do something, as no one can read minds and know what someone is really thinking. The reality is that a person who IS going to do something isn't going to dress up in such a way that they advertise that fact.
While not commenting on the validity of the SPOT program, I also find it likely that TSA had a SPOTnik there of some sort assessing the guy and didn't find him to be lying. TSA ultimately had no problem with him flying as they found no evidence of a threat. What it came down to is fear on the captain's part.
And I'm sorry, fear of what someone MIGHT or MIGHT NOT do isn't sufficient reason to bar someone from a flight. - Not saying you're saying this, just a general statement.