FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - DL passenger denied boarding due to t-shirt design
Old Aug 25, 2012, 1:09 pm
  #159  
Carl Johnson
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SEA
Programs: Delta TDK(or care)WIA, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,869
Originally Posted by TSORon
I would agree with you here if there was a simple addition.

Every mode of transport, no exceptions, has its regulatory requirements and / or laws that govern what you can and cannot do while performing that mode of transportation or requirements that one must meet before using a particular mode of transport. Air travel is no different. Most, if not all, are designed for the safety of the traveler and any other member of the citizenry that may be affected by an individuals use of a transportation mode. Its been this way for more than a century. As each new mode of transportation has been added to our choices along with them have come restrictions and requirements.

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.
Clerk Ron, please don't weigh in on issues that are so far beyond your capacity to analyze. The fact that the aircraft commander is the ultimate authority doesn't mean he is not subject to oversight. He can, for example, be removed (which is what should have happened). The airline can be sued for race discrimination, and the captain can be put in the stand and questioned about the reasoning that led to his decision to exert his "ultimate authority" in the way he did.

I wasn't on the Titanic either, but I know enough about what was going on to know that it was running too fast for conditions.

We know all the facts relevant to the decision as to whether or not to keep Mr. Guha off the aircraft - namely, that he posed no threat to the aircraft or any passenger on it. Making racist passengers comfortable in their racism is not a legitimate application of the captain's authority - "ultimate" or otherwise.
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