A couple returning home from a Costa Rican vacation was ejected from an American Airlines flight because the man was wearing a T-shirt depicting a bare breast.
Oscar Arela and his girlfriend were removed from Flight 952 on Saturday after he refused to change the shirt or turn it inside out at Miami International Airport.
The couple, who were making a connecting flight, said nobody on their earlier flight objected to the shirt and claimed the airline violated their constitutional right to free speech.
“It’s a picture of a man and woman, and the woman’s breast is showing,” said his girlfriend, Tala Tow. “The flight attendant basically walked up to us and yelled, ‘You have to take off that shirt right now.”‘
American spokesman Tim Wagner said Sunday that crew members acted properly, and said the shirt was more graphic than the couple described. The airline gave them a refund, he said.
Wagner noted on American’s Web site the policy clearly states that someone who is “clothed in a manner that would cause discomfort or offense to other passengers” can be removed from a flight.
By: SHAMROCK321 - 4th August 2004 at 19:02
You should have called this thread ”Simpy the breast”
By: Hand87_5 - 4th August 2004 at 08:10
Airlines have double standards. One airline objects to this T-shirt and another calls itself ‘Hooters’ ….and promotes the name!!!!
You got a point here 🙂
By: ALBERT ROSS - 4th August 2004 at 01:10
Airlines have double standards. One airline objects to this T-shirt and another calls itself ‘Hooters’ ….and promotes the name!!!!
By: Hand87_5 - 3rd August 2004 at 17:14
Agree. Some people are agitated by the sight of bare breasts.
Others are excited by them in other ways!My wife want’s to take me to Nice and the Monaco G.P. for my birthday next year.
I’ve never been to a topless beach…I’m afraid if I go I’ll see more 50+ year old German housewives than Claudia Schiffer (sp?) lookalikes.
Well , you have a goog chance in Nice and in this area.
It’s not a big deal here, and noone pays attention to this anymore.
Anyway you got a problem for Monaco mate: check the cars or check the boops 😀
Be confident , you’ll see very nice things in Monaco. Have fun.
If I can suggest something , make your plan early. The hotels in Monaco area are booked one year early. If you don’t want to stay 2 hour drive from the GP , book now!!!
By: 4 engines good - 3rd August 2004 at 17:08
Not in Nice and Monaco you won’t!
Otherwise Spain has its fair share of young flesh 😉
By: John Boyle - 3rd August 2004 at 17:05
John my point was to say that in the US (and in Europe too) some people consider as indecent breath nudity but are ok with a society which generates people sleeping in cardbaord beds in the streets. This is the real indecency
from my point of view.
Agree. Some people are agitated by the sight of bare breasts.
Others are excited by them in other ways!
My wife want’s to take me to Nice and the Monaco G.P. for my birthday next year.
I’ve never been to a topless beach…I’m afraid if I go I’ll see more 50+ year old German housewives than Claudia Schiffer (sp?) lookalikes.
By: Hand87_5 - 3rd August 2004 at 16:31
Yes, the US is prude….sometimes it’s bad or stupid, even hypocritical, other times it preserves a semblance of good taste (as an example I think some BBC shows really try to be in bad taste just to prove they can.)
This is not to say I’m against the female breast…far from it. I’m a big fan.
As far as the rest of your post, I’m not sure what you are trying to say.
In London, I see panhandlers too. And I probably would in Paris.
The USA does have rich people. Just like other places.
If you want to compare the “Have & have not’s”… I suggest taking a look at places like Mexico and India.
From what I’ve seen of the “third world” I can say that even poor Americans live better than most people in those countries.Is the U.S. perfect, far from it.
But when my European friends commenet about the U.S. I ask them to remember, the U.S. is never going to like Europe.
It’s a county made of of different cultures..(the way European counties are now changeing due to immigration). It’s never going to have many of the attitudes found in the rest of the world. Remember, it’s a young country, we’ve all been in pubs that are older than any buildings in North America.:)
It’s a very different place, and despite having the same language as the U.K. it’s a different culture.
John my point was to say that in the US (and in Europe too) some people consider as indecent breath nudity but are ok with a society which generates people sleeping in cardbaord beds in the streets. This is the real indecency
from my point of view.
By: John Boyle - 3rd August 2004 at 16:21
Some people can’t stand a breast picture on a T-shirt but are confortable with homeless people begging in the streets. Its unfortunately not an US specific problem even if the ultra-something are more powerful and well structured there.
Yes, the US is prude….sometimes it’s bad or stupid, even hypocritical, other times it preserves a semblance of good taste (as an example I think some BBC shows really try to be in bad taste just to prove they can.)
This is not to say I’m against the female breast…far from it. I’m a big fan.
As far as the rest of your post, I’m not sure what you are trying to say.
In London, I see panhandlers too. And I probably would in Paris.
The USA does have rich people. Just like other places.
If you want to compare the “Have & have not’s”… I suggest taking a look at places like Mexico and India.
From what I’ve seen of the “third world” I can say that even poor Americans live better than most people in those countries.
Is the U.S. perfect, far from it.
But when my European friends commenet about the U.S. I ask them to remember, the U.S. is never going to like Europe.
It’s a county made of of different cultures..(the way European counties are now changeing due to immigration). It’s never going to have many of the attitudes found in the rest of the world. Remember, it’s a young country, we’ve all been in pubs that are older than any buildings in North America.:)
It’s a very different place, and despite having the same language as the U.K. it’s a different culture.
By: Ren Frew - 3rd August 2004 at 14:05
Incidentally, what is AA’s (and other airlines) policy on breastfeeding? Would a breastfeeding mother and child be kicked out of the plane too?
Possibly not… unless of course she was wearing a picture of her breasts on a t-shirt before she revealed her actual breast(s). :confused:
The American public, as was highlighted by the recent Janet Jackson nipple expose’ appear to have little tolerance for public nudity or perceived nudity. After all you can’t go topless on the beach or elsewhere and the slightest attempt at such an activity will no doubt see a squadron of F-16’s scrambled from the nearest airbase.
It always makes me wonder why be so prudish in a society that seems to tolerate much greater evils ? But as you say that’s a debate for elsewhere.
Personally I tend to associate breasts and aviation with the Airplane movie. Certain airlines however are clearly run by a bunch of big diddies mind you.
Oh what’s that gag about Bristol Airport again …..? 😉
By: 4 engines good - 3rd August 2004 at 13:54
What puzzles me the most is that violence, guns and wars are apparently okay for kids and adults alike to watch or to have displayed on a t-shirt, but a female breast is not. :confused:
Never mind, that’s a philosophical discussion better suited for the general forum…
Incidentally, what is AA’s (and other airlines) policy on breastfeeding? Would a breastfeeding mother and child be kicked out of the plane too?
By: Hand87_5 - 3rd August 2004 at 10:58
Some people can’t stand a breast picture on a T-shirt but are confortable with homeless people begging in the streets. Its unfortunately not an US specific problem even if the ultra-something are more powerful and well structured there.
By: 4 engines good - 3rd August 2004 at 10:54
Sometimes I truly despair at the ultra-prudish attitudes that can be displayed by our friends across the Pond (or some of them anyway).
Well if I get to fly AA again perhaps I’ll wear one of those French Connection t-shirts, with its infamous FCUK logo in big letters, and see if they dare to say something…
By: KabirT - 3rd August 2004 at 10:08
thats unimaginable. 😮
By: Ren Frew - 3rd August 2004 at 09:44
Remember when film actress Wynona Ryder was up in court on a shoplifting charge a couple of years ago ?
I bought a t-shirt in Santa Monica at the time that said “Wynona went shoplifting and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”. It seemed the perfect antidote to all the “Free Wynona” shirts people were wearing at the time.
It had everyone in stitches, people would stop me in the street and laugh, asking me where I bought it? I don’t know how many people made positive comments about that t-shirt?
That was until I wore it checking in at LAX, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t think that’s very funny” said one female attendant. A security operative said grumpily something along the lines of ” You don’t even know if she did it do ya?” Followed by him beckoning a colleague so that my luggage could be given the full bhoona drugs testing and search.
Is working in the US airline industry post 9/11 sooooooooo stressful and fun free that airline staff feel the need to take out their frustrations on innocent fun loving passengers ? :rolleyes:
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August 3, 2004 at 3:59 am