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Home / World

Passenger turned away from two flights after wearing 10 layers of clothing to avoid luggage fee

By Francesca Marshall
Daily Telegraph UK·
16 Jan, 2018 04:35 PM2 mins to read

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Ryan Hawaii was stopped from boarding his flight. Photo / @ryan_hawaii

Ryan Hawaii was stopped from boarding his flight. Photo / @ryan_hawaii

A man travelling from Iceland to London was turned away from a British Airways flight after he wore eight pairs of pants and 10 shirts to avoid paying for checked-in luggage.

Ryan Carney Williams, who goes by the name Ryan Hawaii, was due to fly from Keflavik airport on Wednesday when he was refused a boarding pass by the airline.

He was reportedly stopped from boarding after he put on all his clothes as he couldn't afford to pay for checked baggage.

Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/7f8UFi9jb4

— Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 10, 2018

Taking to his social media page to document the debacle, Hawaii tweeted: "@British_Airways hi being held at Iceland Keflavik airport because I had no baggage put all the clothes on and they still won't let me on. Racial profiling?"

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Sadly for Hawaii the ordeal did not end there after he was turned away from a second flight with EasyJet the following day.

"And AGAIN! Refused from 2 flights in 2 days for no valid reason," he tweeted.

EasyJet explained that the Captain and ground crew were concerned about reports from the previous day and that Hawaii was given a full refund.

Spoke to @easyjet via dm and this was there response, can't believe this is real life right now... pic.twitter.com/h8EqkEwTpH

— Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 13, 2018

British Airways vehemently deny that the boarding refusal had anything to do with race.

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A spokeswoman said: "The decision to deny boarding was absolutely not based on race. We do not tolerate threatening or abusive behaviour from any customer, and will always take the appropriate action."

Hawaii has now arrived back in the UK after taking a flight with a Norwegian airline.

Talking about the fiasco, he said: "I waited in the queue politely with other passengers and once I made it to the desk I was still refused my boarding pass.

"Security were called. At this point I started to film. Security tried to slap my phone out my hand.

Discover more

Entertainment

Singer collapses on flight wearing 12 layers of clothes

11 Jul 03:01 AM

"I moved. Continued to film and explain that I was well within my rights. Police were called. I spoke to two police officers and explained my story."

This is not the first time a passenger has tried to avoid paying luggage charges by wearing excessive amounts of clothing.

James McElvar, a singer with Scottish five-piece Rewind, lost consciousness flying from London to Glasgow in 2015 after wearing 12 layers of clothing.

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