Budget carrier Spirit Airlines is very strict about its dress code for passengers. John Garcia Jr., 43, found this out when he boarded an SA flight to San Antonio at the Los Angeles airport on 13 January.
Garcia was seen on video taken by another passenger being told by a flight attendant to remove his sweatshirt. In the video posted on the Facebook chat group 210 La Chismosa, the attendant explained that his hoodie displayed offensive language in violation of airline policy, New York Post reports.
The video showed the phrase, “FVCK HATE WORLD TOUR,” printed on Garcia’s sweatshirt.
When the female flight attendant, accompanied by a male crew member, ordered Garcia to remove the shirt or get off the plane, he reluctantly did so but he was still escorted off the plane. But he questioned the SA dress policy and asked for the names of the crew members and the security staff.
The crew then escorted him off the plane.
Meanwhile, the staff of a cruise ship of P&O Cruises Australia (PCA) put on costumes for a Christmas-themed family fun day on board the Pacific Explorer.
A video showed the staff strolling across the ship’s deck wearing “snow cones.”
“They were only in public view for a short time before management acted quickly and had them remove the costumes,” a PCA spokesperson said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The crew members were horrified and extremely apologetic when they learned of the distress their outfits could cause,” the spokesperson added, AFP reports.
The all-white jumpsuits and cone-shaped hats worn by the cruise ship staff evoked the distinctive white robes and masked hoods worn by the racist Ku Klux Klan in the United States.
P&O Australia communications director Lynne Scrivens said it was an innocent case of an improvisation gone awry.
“They had no idea. They were horrified when management said to them, please take those outfits off,” Scrivens said.