American Airlines has apologized after a passenger claimed she was asked to leave her flight Online Cigarettes Store USA over a shirt that some crew members found "offensive."
The incident occurred when Swati Runi Goyal was flying from Florida to Las Vegas in late October — weeks before the airline issued a full apology, according to BuzzFeed News.
After boarding the flight, the 49-year-old, who was traveling with her husband, was called up to the front Newport Cigarettes Shop of the plane. Goyal who was wearing a T-shirt that read "Hail Satan," gathered her things and began speaking with the crew members.
The Key West resident told BuzzFeed News she originally thought she was being upgraded to first class, but it turns out it was her shirt that had caught the staff's attention.
"[The crew member] said, ‘Our crew has found your shirt to be offensive,'" Goyal recalled. "We initially just thought it Newport 100s Box was a joke. But he repeated the directive, and there was another female crew member who was behind him with her arms crossed looking very angry."
Goyal said she originally dismissed this request, but the crew continued to press her, delaying the flight and calling for a customer service agent to come on board and demand she remove the shirt. The 49-year-old said she was given an ultimatum: Change shirts or leave the flight entirely. Goyal was confused by the outrage.