Have attitudes really changed?

shenanigans1982

http://www.celebitchy.com/48287/joel_madden_forced_by_british_airways_to_cover_tattoos_before_boarding_flight/

My OH pointed this out to me yesterday and I really had to laugh. I thought things had gotten beyond this point.

Anyone else have any similar experiences?...only time I can think of when it may have happened to me was when I was called for jury duty and got refused. Although that may not have had anything to do with it.

Hellrazer

Thats ridiculous.Tattoos are so common nowadays that a rule like that just makes BA look like a bunch of idiots.

I wonder will they issue a statement about it.

PinkTulips

omg... surely that has to be one idiot employee causing trouble, they can't possibly have rules like that?!

feel horrible for him when he says he didn't want to make a scene with 'everyone watching and laughing' i'd have been mortified.

hope they issue and apology asap

shenanigans1982

PinkTulips wrote: »

omg... surely that has to be one idiot employee causing trouble, they can't possibly have rules like that?!

feel horrible for him when he says he didn't want to make a scene with 'everyone watching and laughing' i'd have been mortified.

hope they issue and apology asap

Yeah apparently it was a single employee because it said that even another BA employee confronted him about it.

Don't think I would have been so calm and understanding about it.

Will

You always get one or two ignorant people in positions of power.
He did the right thing and not make a big scene about it, specially in an airport situation where security seem to hop on anyone.

Monkey61

Presumably he was flying 1st class though?

In that case I understand because they have dress codes and such. My friend was made buy a pair of shoes to wear on the plane when she got an upgrade because she only had sandals.

Raze_them_all

Monkey61 wrote: »

Presumably he was flying 1st class though?

In that case I understand because they have dress codes and such. My friend was made buy a pair of shoes to wear on the plane when she got an upgrade because she only had sandals.

so tattoo's mean your not as good as the others in first class???

Passenger

His arm Tattoos are full of Religious iconography if you look closer. Maybe the BA staff noticed this as opposed to them being merely ordinary tattoos and considered other passengers might be alarmed by some religious nut onboard.

jenizzle

Raze_them_all wrote: »

so tattoo's mean your not as good as the others in first class???

Don't think Monkey61 was saying that, they just mentioned that there could have been a dress-code - same as some people have in work or the like.

In saying that, the situation is ridiculous, but then again, we're biased here

Hellrazer

Passenger wrote: »

His arm Tattoos are full of Religious iconography if you look closer. Maybe the BA staff noticed this as opposed to them being merely ordinary tattoos and considered other passengers might be alarmed by some religious nut onboard.

Doubt it tbh.Id say it was some gob****e on a power trip deciding to show off.

shenanigans1982

Passenger wrote: »

His arm Tattoos are full of Religious iconography if you look closer. Maybe the BA staff noticed this as opposed to them being merely ordinary tattoos and considered other passengers might be alarmed by some religious nut onboard.

Thats a pretty lame way of trying to justify it. If a Muslim is seen praying in an airport before his flight should he be kept grounded because he may be a "religious nut"? If a priest is onboard should he remove his collar for fear of upsetting other passangers?....I have religious tattoos and not a religious bone in my body but I do like the images and iconography. People can assume all they want but when they act on those assumption in a way like this it comes down to discrimination.

Hogzy

If it was first class then fair enough, as was stated above there is a dress code for first class and you they must stick to it. Its the same with some bars and nightclubs. A fancy resteraunt is not gonna let aperson wearing tattered runners in. Its to keep with formalieites so the place looks proper.
If this was the case BA were perfectly entitled (and right) to uphold their first class dress code

Another reason maybe is if his tatoos depicted crude images of nudity which i have seen on a lot of people. How would you like if you had a child sitting next to a guy with a tatoo of 2 people having sex. Or if the tattoo had obscene language!

Molberts

Apparently BA are saying it was the employees fault and not their rules:

http://perezhilton.com/2009-04-28-airline-blames-discrimination-only-on-employee

I had pleasure of interviewing/hanging out with Joel the last time Good Charlotte were in Dublin. He's an absolute gent, very polite and well spoken.

This was a sh!tty thing to happen to someone imo, anyone, regardless of whether you're in a band or not.

Imagine people staring and laughing at you as you try to board a plane >.<

CianRyan

Passenger wrote: »

His arm Tattoos are full of Religious iconography if you look closer. Maybe the BA staff noticed this as opposed to them being merely ordinary tattoos and considered other passengers might be alarmed by some religious nut onboard.

Does this mean they'd refuse a religious monk accese to the plane if he's wearing his robes?

No matter what way you look at this, this is madness.

If it happened to me, well on the inside at least, i'd of been going mad, keeping a level head on the outside.

Gahh, I'm to tired, i can't form a propper sentence, either way. He should have stood up for himself, guys like these tend to crumble with the slightest bit of confrontation, civilized of course. Starting a scrap in an airport could never be good. haha

eviltimeban

Well at least BA responded and said it wasn't policy. I'd have thrown a wobbler! At least, I think I would've. Its funny, would they have made David Beckham cover his tattoos if it was him getting on the plane? I think not. That's what I'd say anyway!

Raze_them_all

eviltimeban wrote: »

Well at least BA responded and said it wasn't policy. I'd have thrown a wobbler! At least, I think I would've. Its funny, would they have made David Beckham cover his tattoos if it was him getting on the plane? I think not. That's what I'd say anyway!

Of course they'd say that, The same way pubs stop knackers coming in by having the bouncers say theu're too drunk. They'll blame your man but he wont be fired.

Teeth

This has happened to me in the past. not one of my tattoos are offensive.


The old "are you discriminating me for the colour of my skin?" line works wonders.

Shimei

i find it really hard to care about this topic because it is good charlotte. although they do have that one catchy tune!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3NsGx8-sEc

Molberts

but this one has the best lyric EVAR!:pac:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSPRQUfVl1Y&feature=related

"I rock a law suit when Im going to court, a white suit when im getting divorced, a black suit in the funeral home and my birthday suit when I'm home alone" :p

Sweenox

Thats mad,I would hav snapped,he should have covered them,got on the flight then whipped his top off ha not like they can pull over an throw him off.Still theres always one ignorant p***k like that,I had an old women in work point at me and say "he looks like he just got out of prison" which I wasn too happy about so I let her know and one of my officers said I was dead right too

Raze_them_all

Sweenox wrote: »

Thats mad,I would hav snapped,he should have covered them,got on the flight then whipped his top off ha not like they can pull over an throw him off.Still theres always one ignorant p***k like that,I had an old women in work point at me and say "he looks like he just got out of prison" which I wasn too happy about so I let her know and one of my officers said I was dead right too

Well in all fairness you stay in a room with a ton of guys and all wear the same outfit....

Will

Almost as gay as getting in a ring with some built dude wearing a man thong, then wrestling fondling them until they can't take the embarassment anymore

But in all seriousness, yeah bit shocking this happened. Attitude seem to have remained stagnant somewhat it seems.

Again I think he did the right thing and not make a huge deal about it, if he did he would only be compounding the stereotype i think.

tread_softly

Molberts wrote: »

"I rock a law suit when Im going to court, a white suit when im getting divorced, a black suit in the funeral home and my birthday suit when I'm home alone" :p

haha, that's amazing! i have the tiniest amount of respect for them now that you pointed out what a wordsmith that madden boy is!

_sparkie_

but then again BA dont have the best track record with this kind of thing. does anybody remember the story from last year when they made an indian man take off his transformers t-shirt before boarding a flight because optimus-prime was holding a big gun?