Breast Cancer Supporter Denied by Southwest Airlines

MJohn, I certainly hope you can get attention from the powers that be at the newspaper. I certainly can't and my issues are of life and death. Maybe a TV report?

From your picture I deduce you are very young. Here's a tip from a fossil. The people in charge of almost everything are either incompetent, or crooked. Usually both. This applies to corporations, government and piddly airlines. Try to deal with their ignorance as best you can. It's frustrating but overcoming it will prove you the better person.

Lily's Lore "I don't ever want to be rescued And I don't ever want to be saved I got a feelin' that I'm gonna be alive forever Dancin' on the edge of a grave..." Jim Steinman

mjohn036,

While I do admire your determination & your cause, at once, I can understand your ire & understand the actions of the air line.  Please note that I said I can understand, not necessarily condone their view.

As with many aspects of an issue, there is usually more than one side to it.  In our daily lives we encounter at least two kinds of prohibition or censorship.  One is personal, one is societal, or public.  For example, while you might use a certain kind of language when speaking with your peers, you might tend to "clean it up," when speaking to your parents, your minister or professionals.  You might censor yourself in the kind of books you read, places you go or movies, television & music you partake in.

Public entities act for what they consider the overall good of the community &/or their public image.  Restaurants, among other places, have dress codes.  Behavior is restricted in places like libraries or places of worship.  What we read &/or watch is censored to a certain extant by the market place, or societal groups.

For the most part, even while we may not agree with these restrictions, they are enforced for, "the sake of propriety or safety," in society.  In most cases, a middle ground is reached which most people agree & the least harm is done.  So a moment to think about this might explain the actions of the airline.  Their actions were only one aspect, for better or worse, of the philosophy of "family values."  When one gets down to it, they were within their legal rights.  When I was a kid, a sports metaphor was instilled in my friends & I which we found was very applicable to many situations in life.  "It's your ballfield, your equipment so you get to make the ground rules."  Pretty good advice.

"Doubting is the first step towards knowlege.  Aquiring knowledge is the next step to a higher intellect."  JATFUR.

RichK

Available on the Southwest Airlines website: 

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. CONTRACT OF CARRIAGE — PASSENGER SIXTH REVISED Page 10 &11 

F. Comfort and Safety - Carrier may refuse to transport or remove from the aircraft at any point any passenger in the following categories as may be necessary for the comfort or safety of such passenger or other passengers:  

(1) Persons whose conduct is or has been known to be disorderly, abusive, offensive, threatening, intimidating, or violent, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive;  

The fare of any passenger denied transportation or removed from Carrier’s aircraft enroute under the provisions of Article 10 will be refunded in accordance with Article 90 of this Contract of Carriage. The sole recourse of any passenger refused transportation or removed enroute will be the recovery of the refund value of the unused portion of his or her ticket. 

A recent event also on the website found under New Release, Create Date: Feb-16-07 14:20:

Statement from Southwest Airlines

In regard to the recent news coverage about Southwest’s decision to deplane a female passenger in Reno for refusing to cover up a t-shirt that contained inappropriate and vulgar language (she was repeatedly asked to put on the sweater she was carrying), Southwest would like to offer the following statement:

Southwest Airlines supports the right of freedom of speech in the United States. Southwest also supports the rights of our Customers when traveling on Southwest and our Employees to not have to be confronted with offensive, even inciting profanity displayed by another Customer onboard a Southwest flight.

Southwest's Customer Contract of Carriage states that: "Persons whose conduct is or has been known to be disorderly, abusive, offensive, threatening, intimidating, or violent, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive" may be denied boarding.

This situation does not concern politics or political views. Rather, the Customer wore a t-shirt displaying language that is so offensive that for example, by federal regulation it cannot be aired by public broadcast or printed in a newspaper.