It seems as though every week we read about another passenger, family, or group of passengers refused boarding or getting thrown off their flight, even after the plane has left the gate.
There are times when being thrown off the plane is no fault of the passenger, and other times passengers are their own worst enemies. There are times flight attendants are having a bad day and take it out on passengers. There are times passengers are having a rough day, especially after wading through TSA security checkpoints, waiting for a late flight to board, and take it out on the flight crew.
Getting thrown off a plane not only can have serious travel consequences, but legal ones as well. My best advice, if passengers don’t want to miss an important family event, lose an important deal, or miss their cruise ship’s sailing, is keep calm and use common sense when traveling by air, even when having a bad day.
Otherwise, here are my top 10 ways passengers can ensure they’ll be tossed from their flight.
1. Exercise your First Amendment right to free speech — The US Constitution’s First Amendment prevents the government — not businesses, including the airlines — from “abridging the freedom of speech.” If a passenger decides to make both a fashion and political statement by what they wear, use foul or abusive language, loudly complain the flight crew’s not doing their job very well or fast enough, they will likely be thrown off their flight.
2. Skip your shower and deodorant — Unfortunately, I almost sat next to a passenger who was unbelievably odoriferous on a transcontinental flight from San Francisco a few years ago. He smelled bad enough that the people in front and behind our row complained. The flight attendant kicked him off our flight.
3. Be too overweight to fit in the seat — This can be a tough one. Many travelers have a difficult time controlling their weight, some due to serious medical conditions. It would be unsafe to permit passengers who can’t fit in their seatbelt, even with extender, to fly. For passengers so wide they can’t put down the armrest between them and the passenger beside them, it’s about fairness. Why should the passenger beside them be denied full use of their seat? I have an acquaintance who’s large and always purchases a second seat so he will have no trouble flying.
4. Dress provocatively — Remember Kyla Ebbert and her skimpy hemline that some at Southwest Airlines thought was too “revealing?” Recall Grammie award winner Billie Joe Armstrong’s run-in with Southwest, when he was kicked off his flight because his pants sagged too low? US Airways threw off football player Deshon Maraman from one of its flights because his pants were so low his underwear showed. Many might hate the airlines’ fashion rules, but airlines get to make and enforce them.
5. Down too many alcoholic beverages in the airport bar — Some drown their sorrows at the airport bar when their vacations end, or they lose a deal, or they lose too much at the craps table. But, more and more, if passengers show up drunk, they will be kicked off their flight.
6. Traveling with a youngster who talks too much or cries — Intolerance of children by flight crews seems to have hit a peak in recent years. I saw it myself on a flight a few years back. A toddler was quite talkative in a seat across the aisle from me. He was actually being pretty good, but a flight attendant, apparently having a bad day, strenuously “suggested” his mom shove a Benadryl in the boy. The mom was smart and said she’d comply, but merely got out a sippy cup and gave him a drink. Unless travelers are looking to be thrown off the plane, be prepared to keep children happy, sated and occupied with games, books, toys, food and drink.
7. Mention specific, unwritten keywords — If passengers speak of bombs, explosives, guns, terrorists, and alike, or any hint of those words — even in jest — they will get the boot from their flight in a hurry.
8. Make photos of the airplane’s cabin, especially of the flight crew — Airline rules about photographing in planes’ cabins vary greatly. Some airlines permit photos of family and friends while in the plane. Others forbid all photography in the cabin. A plane is not considered public and therefore passengers have no right to shoot as they please. I ask the flight crew for permission to photograph in planes’ cabins. I’ve never been refused.
9. Be an abusive dolt — By the time travelers and crew board their flights these days, many have frayed nerves. If they want to get kicked off a flight, it won’t take anything more than rude and obnoxious behavior to fellow passengers and especially the flight crew. It’s just not tolerated any more, and shouldn’t be.
10. Be an Alec Baldwin doppelganger — Passengers must follow the directions of the flight crew at all times. Famously, Alec Baldwin was kicked off an American Airline’s flight because he repeatedly refused to shut down his smartphone when directed by flight attendants. Then he reportedly doubled down on his behavior by being rude and offensive to the flight crew.
(Image: Southwest Airlines plane landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Copyright © 2015 NSL Photography. All Rights Reserved.)
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
