Woman removed from Delta flight, reprimanded for not wearing a bra: ‘It was humiliation’
A frustrated female flyer is pushing back after Delta Airlines staff threatened to kick her off the plane for not wearing a bra.
Lisa Archbold was traveling from Salt Lake City to San Francisco on Jan. 22 when the tit snit took off, very suddenly putting her plans in peril.
The self-employed DJ, who had just attended the world-famous Sundance film festival, alleged that after “every single person” had taken their seat, she was “loudly” summoned to the front of the plane.
Once there, The Independent reported, the New Zealand expat was herded out into the passenger gangway and given a stern reprimand for her “baggy” t-shirt and long pants, which Delta employees called “revealing” and “offensive attire.”
“After this long speech, she tells me she would allow me to stay on the flight if I put on my jacket,” Archbold, whose stage name is Djette Kiwi, told Yahoo! News Australia.
“Keep in mind this flight was an hour and a half long so I was not going to be out of my seat again,” she went on. “So whatever offense she was pretending was happening from my nipples, she had just created that offense again, so it wasn’t logical — it was humiliation.”
The boob brouhaha began when Archbold took off her coat in the Salt Lake airport before boarding the flight, as the weather had been warmer than expected that day.
“I looked like a girl who didn’t care about being dressed like one,” said Archbold, who identifies as queer.
The put-out passenger said she couldn’t help but wonder aloud if her queerness had been the cause of what she felt was unjust treatment.
It was not immediately clear if the staffer responded to the allegation at the time.
After wearing her jacket for the duration of the flight in order to keep the peace, Archbold confronted a male member of staff to express her disappointment over her perceived “discrimination.”
“He replied verbatim, ‘Our official policy on Delta Airlines is that women must cover-up.’ It’s pretty gross,” she revealed.
The airline has since apologized to Archbold, she said, but “stopped short of admitting any wrongdoing.”
Archbold hopes they will take that step at some point.
“I don’t need miles or an apology, I need Delta to be interested in the safety of their passengers,” she told a reporter.
“The dress code is extremely subjective. Subjective policies are easy vessels of abuse. They are easy to shift. Let’s make everyone more safe.”
