You might know of The Man Who Wore All His Clothes, the humorous children’s book by Allan Ahlberg, where a man, for reasons not entirely clear, wears all his clothes and ends up saving the day because of it. In real life, a British man was recently arrested in Iceland for trying to board a flight while wearing all the clothes that wouldn’t fit in his checked luggage. Unfortunately, this story doesn’t have quite the same happy ending as the book.
Ryan Carney Williams (a.k.a. Ryan Hawaii on Twitter) was recently held up at Iceland’s Keflavik Airport because he was wearing a few too many layers — eight pairs of pants and 10 shirts, to be precise. The reason he was so bundled up wasn’t because he was cold, but rather, because he was unable to pay the baggage fee required to check his extra possessions and get him home.
British Airlines, however, didn’t see Williams’ solution as a practical one and decided to prevent him from boarding his flight. So he took to Twitter in protest.
@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? Or….. pic.twitter.com/NKgpe1cPFP
— Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 10, 2018
Here’s a video showing just how he layered the outfit. (Note the stylish and functional use of the shirt sleeves as scarves.)
Disappointing. pic.twitter.com/7f8UFi9jb4
— Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 10, 2018
After accusing the airline of preventing him from boarding his flight due to racial profiling, British Airways denied the situation had anything to do with race. “The decision to deny boarding was absolutely not based on race,” the airline stated. “We do not tolerate threatening or abusive behaviour from any customer, and will always take the appropriate action.”
Williams then left the airport, only to return the next day with a ticket on a different airline, EasyJet. But when he arrived, he found his reputation for causing a disturbance had preceded him, and he was once again turned away at security.
And AGAIN! Refused from 2 flights in 2 days for no valid reason 🙂 @easyJet @British_Airways thanks guys wonderful service pic.twitter.com/Ivoc0WZvXl
— Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 11, 2018
Apparently the captain of the flight had heard about the disagreement in the airport the day before and decided not to take a chance by letting Williams aboard, a decision EasyJet’s customer service stood by.
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
The British artist and clothing designer did eventually find his way home via a more accepting Norwegian airline.
To everyone reporting on my airport experience in Iceland.
PLEASE STOP SAYING I was EVADING excess baggage fees….I couldn’t AFFORD the fee (£90) as a result of being left homeless in Iceland for over a week.
Paints a VERY different picture.
Thankful that anyone cares tho.
— Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 16, 2018
If anything, his story serves as a reminder to pack your luggage and read the airline’s rules and regulations extra carefully. That, or end up missing your flight because security was suspicious when you piled on a few too many outfits.
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