How Do You Spell That?

Except that an airline, via its Common Carrier status, *also* has to obey the First Amendment.

You, as a private company, are free to deny service to whomever you want. But a telco, or a shipper, or an airline, as a common carrier, has to obey certain restrictions and the criteria upon which they can deny service are extremely limited.

This particular situation has already been tested (someone was kicked off a plane for wearing an offensive shirt) and the airline got its ass handed to them, so I'd expect more of the same on that front here.

Personally, I think the only way braindead companies like BA (in this case) are going to learn their lesson is when Gilmore wins his case (and he will), and then when the 300+ other passengers start suing the airline over the delay causes by their braindead behavior.

But "Common Carrier" status only protects you if you are discriminated against because of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation towards water buffalo; you get the general idea.

IF he wanted to make a point, he should have removed the button when the Captain ordered him to. The captain of a passenger flight can kick anyone off for any reason, provided they are within company guidelines to do so. I'll admit that BA probably doesn't have a policy on this, so it probably is a "gray-area". But Gilmore wouldn't have hurt his argument in removing the button instead of acting like an idiot and getting booted.

I actually do respect some of his stands with the EFF. But once he is on the plane, his ass belongs to the captain, bottom line. If he doesn't like that, do what I do and drive or take the QE2 if you can't drive.

I wouldn't expect this to be an easy case for him to fight or even win. If anything, BA will state that the captain is in his right to deny passage to anyone as long as it fits within company guidelines.

Brian...you are totally correct on this.

But, the bigger question here is what happened to common sense? To get on an airplane with a button that says 'Suspected Terrorist' on it is just plain stupid, not to mention rude to the other passengers.

People need to stop being so selfish and realize that there are others in the world with them.

If I had been on that plane and sitting next to Gilmore, I would have brought it up to the captain. That is just something any responsible person should do.

And...what if the passenger next to him was someone who had a relative or loved on on one of the hijacked planes from September 11th? How would they feel? Do they have a right to ask the captain to turn the plane around because the person next to them is a moron?

I personally don't have a problem with Gilmore wearing the button (it nice to know who the idiots are compared to the rest of us). He crossed the line when he disobeyed a direct order from the captain of the plane. I just hope BA bans his ass from their airline going forward.

If Gilmore was sitting next to me, I'd ask him about the button. I'd listen to his position, and probably agree with him about the total random/stupid nature of airline security. But I would also bring up where the government can't single out certain groups for fear of being racist. So what are the airlines supposed to do? Nothing? Is inaction better than action in this case?

And yes Jason, I do agree that people should be a bit more considerate; but people like Gilmore think their "cause" is much more important than what other people think. Gilmore might be a very smart, rich man; but he is missing the boat when Causing controversy does provoke discussion, but people like this forget that there is a PR side to protesting. :-)

Brian - Common carrier status doesn't just protect you on those fronts. On those fronts you're protected already by anti-discrimination laws. Common-carrier laws go one step further, basically saying "you can ONLY 'not do business with someone' according to specified guidelines"

Remember that the telco is a common carrier. Verizon couldn't decide tomorrow to stop putting your calls through if you ran VerizonSucksHotline off the #.

In the land of the telephone monopoly (and with Heywood Jablowme) you are correct. But we are talking the world's of airlines, where there isn't just a choice but healthy competition.

As I said earlier, I don't know what BAs policy is on "Suspected Terrorist" buttons. But I do know what their policy is in disobeying aircrew instructions. And THATS what got him booted from the plane.