Ryan Carney Williams, an artist who goes by the name Ryan Hawaii claimed he was recently turned away from a British Airways flight in Iceland for wearing “all” of his clothes. Ryan was wearing not one or two but 10 shirts and eight pairs of pants to skip £90 (US$124) baggage fee.
@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
Ryan wrote on his Twitter page that he was “being held” at Iceland’s main Keflavik airport because he had no baggage for his clothes.
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
He also called the airline “despicable” and questioned if he was a victim of racial profiling. However, British Airways denied his claims and said the decision to deny boarding for Hawaii “was absolutely not based on race”.
While check-in went fine for his easyJet flight the next day, Ryan was later prevented from boarding at the gate.
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
Ryan eventually made it back home on a Norwegian airline, though it’s still not clear what had become of his clothes.
