It’s another case of the not-so-friendly skies. A popular DJ from South Korea named DJ Soda says she was kicked off an American Airlines flight and forced to take her pants off in public. “Yesterday coming back from JFK to LAX with American Airlines, I was harassed and humiliated. I was forced out of the plane and was harassed to take off my pants in front of the flight crews at the gate,” Soda wrote on Twitter and Instagram.
According to Soda, whose real name is Hwang So-hee, she had just boarded the plane in New York and was enjoying a drink in business class when the flight crew told her that her pants—which were covered with the f-word—were creating a problem. “As I was escorted off the plane, they claimed that my sweatpants were ‘inappropriate’ and ‘offensive’ telling me that I need to take the next flight,” says Soda, who claims the obscenity-laded pants have never presented a problem in the past. “I have never had an issue with wearing this pair of pants before in my many months of touring in North America and they did not have any problem with me wearing it at the time of check-in nor when I sat down at my seat.”
This outfit will definitely get you kicked off a plane.
According to Soda, she begged the staff to let her stay onboard, since she had to attend an important meeting in Los Angeles. “I pleaded to stay on the flight but was ignored by the staff and the flight attendants. I even offered to get changed but the request was denied. What happened next was horrendous,” she wrote on Twitter and Instagram. “With my broken fingers, I...ended up taking off my pants in front of the whole crew and standing half-naked while they still refused to board me on the flight. They even sarcastically commented that I could have taken off my pants earlier.”
Eventually, Soda was allowed on the plane and wore her pants inside out. Soda has vowed to boycott American Airlines.
This isn’t the first time this has happened—on American and other airlines. In 2019, an American Airlines passenger was told she had to change out of a shirt with the slogan, “Hail Satan” or risk being kicked off the plane. In 2021, a plus-size rapper from Alaska who goes by the name Fat Trophy Wife was kicked off an Alaska Airlines flight for wearing an outfit that the flight attendant called inappropriate. The list goes on.
As it turns out, many airlines have strict policies when it comes to what you can wear on a plane. In American Airlines’ contract of carriage, passengers are told they must “dress appropriately; bare feet or offensive clothing aren’t allowed.” Gate agents and flight crews can determine what is and isn’t appropriate.
Wondering what to wear and what not to wear on a plane? Here are some things that have created issues for passengers in the past.
Offensive Language: Last month, a passenger wearing an F—- Biden sweatshirt was kicked off a Delta flight.
Provocative Clothes: In July 2019, American Airlines made a Houston doctor wearing shorts and a halter cover herself with a blanket.
Crop Tops: American Airlines told a former Miss Universe to cover up when she was wearing a crop top on a flight to Cabo San Lucas.
Ugg Boots: Yes, really. A few years ago, a pop singer wasn’t allowed into a Qantas airport lounge because she was wearing Ugg boots, which the attendant thought looked more like “sleepwear.”
