Kitty's Corner

Travelling. I just love it. It's nice to get away from everyday life for a little while and experience new things! For long trips I prefer going by plane. It's fast and effective and often it's cheaper than going by train.

But beware if you want to stay on board!

There are plenty of ways to get yourself kicked out of a plane. And easy ways too. Here's a few of them:

Too political :

Lorrie Heasley from Washington was asked to either turn her t-shirt inside out or to leave the Southwest-plane back in 2005.

On her t-shirt was pictured then President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice.

Underneath the pictures was a reference to the movie "Meet the Fockers", just spelled a bit different.

She chose to leave the plane.


Too smelly :

In February 2010 a man was asked to leave an Air Canada Jazz-plane.

He smelled so bad that the other passengers all stared at him and held their breaths. A passenger described the man's body odour as "brutal".

The man was allowed on a plane the day after. The story doesn't say if he used the extra day up taking a long shower...


Too heavy / too normal :

Film director Kevin Smith, was thrown off a Southwest Airlines plane for being too fat in February 2010. Smith was already seated on the Oakland to Burbank flight when an attendant told him he posed a "safety risk".

Southwest later offered its "heartfelt apologies" to him.

Same year, same company, a normal sized passenger was asked to disembark so an obese passenger could have a second seat.

Southwest later explained: "The passenger in question was a minor who was traveling alone. Normally, if the passenger were an adult, she would be required to purchase an extra ticket, but we did not want to leave the 14-year-old stranded.


Too different :

The passengers on an Atlantic Southeast plane felt uncomfortable. That's the explanation the company gave for asking two Muslim men to leave the plane. The two men were religious leaders and were wearing a traditional Muslim robe.

They were on their way to North Carolina to participate in a conference about Islamophobia....
(The Irony button gets an extra workout on that one!)

Too cuddly :

A woman aboard a Milan to Rome flight refused to fly without her cuddly toy crocodile by her side.

Attendants aboard the 2007 Ryanair flight asked the woman to move the meter-long toy, which was blocking the emergency exit. When she refused to stow it correctly, they asked her to leave the plane.