A woman claims she was kicked off an Alaska Airlines flight for wearing a crop top adding that airline workers also discriminated against her for being 'fat, tattooed and mixed-race'.
Ray Lin Howard, 33, from Alaska, took to her TikTok to share a video of the incident, which has so far racked up 1.3 million views and 180,000 likes from supportive social media users.
You can watch the video below:
In the clip, Ray can be seen chatting to a police officer about she alleges to have been 'harassed' by airline staff, claiming she was escorted off the Alaska Airlines flight as well as being interrogated over her outfit, which was a crop top and shorts.
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“I’m being harassed and now I’m being detained," she says. “I wore an outfit. That’s what happened.”
Ray explains she was wearing a sports bra initially, before being asked to put on a t-shirt, which she did.
“Then they approached me again, saying I can’t wear this, my stomach is showing, and it’s inappropriate," she said.
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Police were called when Ray was approached for the third time and told the airline crew: “If you’re going to kick me off, kick me off. I’ve done what you asked me to do, I want you to leave me alone.”
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Ray - who works in a salon and is also a recording artist - could then be heard asking the officer to let her go as she was due to perform at a show.
The officer seems to acknowledge that she doesn’t appear to have committed any offence.
“I felt like I was being discriminated against for being a fat, tattooed, mixed-race woman, which in turn left me full of emotions like anger, disappointment, helplessness, humiliation, and confusion," she said.
In a follow-up video, Ray shows the outfit she wore on the flight.
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She also shared an Instagram comment from a user who claims they were on the same flight and that “the only voice I heard raised at all was the flight attendant".
Ray added: “Throughout my life as a fat person, I’ve had to deal with fatphobia, especially growing up in the Midwest, but not to this degree."
Ray was eventually released and made it to her show.
She claims the airline later called her to apologise and offered a discount code for future purchases, which she called "hilarious".
Meanwhile on 31st July, another TikTok user who goes by @sierrasteadman accused the same airline staff of threatening to kick her off the plane for also wearing a crop top and shorts.
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She shared the incident in a video, which has been viewed 14.8 million times and racked up 3.4 million likes.
Sierra said: “This should not be happening numerous amounts of times. It should not even be happening once.”
Alaska Airlines told Tyla: "We’re in contact with the guest. We’re are committed to finding out what happened and taking the appropriate actions.
"It’s our goal to provide caring service to all of our guests. When we don’t live up to that goal, we do we everything we can to make it right."
Featured Image Credit: Jam Press