Joel Madden forced by British Airways to cover tattoos before flight
Joel Madden had a flight from London to Lisboa, Portugal on British Airways on Saturday. Madden has full arm tattoos and was outrageously told by a British Airways employee that he would have to cover up with a long sleeve shirt before boarding. He quietly put on a shirt, it’s unknown if he had one in his carry-on luggage or if he had to buy one, and boarded the plane. Madden also chronicled the whole incident for his nearly one hundred thousand followers on Twitter. I wonder when we’ll hear a statement from British Airways that they don’t discriminate against passengers’ tattoos and that this was just one rogue employee acting out of order:
Was just told by a british air person I can’t get on the plane till I cover my tatts. Should I fight the power?
7:56 PM Apr 25th from TwitterBerry
I really actually am in shock he won’t let me on the plane till I put long sleeves on and other BA rep is disagreeing
7:57 PM Apr 25th from TwitterBerry
Finally in Lisbon. What a long trip.
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry
I still can’t believe Brit Air discriminated me for tatts. Unheard of. the guy was literally disgusted by me. I’m gonna write a letter!!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Long ass trip. Finally got to the hotel and geuss what!! No rooms!!! Ahhh!!! Haha gotta laugh sometimes
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry
I did end up covering my tats. Its not my style to cause a scene I just had a convo with the BA guy told him how it was discrimination
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry
IN Lisbon at the LOST video shoot. Having fun. Long day though!
about 15 hours ago from web
@BritishAirways would i be allowed to bring my tattoos if took advantage of this offer?
about 15 hours ago from web in reply to BritishAirways
yes i covered up to board the BA flight. I didn’t want to miss it. And honestly i was embarrrassed all the people were staring and laughing!
about 14 hours ago from web
its not in the rules that i can find.my tatts arent offensive.looking into it. i havent felt this small since the first time i asked nic out
about 14 hours ago from web
Finally in bed after a good 36 hours of craziness. 3 flights. Tattoo discrimination from BA. and a music video later here i am……..
about 7 hours ago from web
[From Joel Madden’s Twitter]
Madden did look up the British Airway regulations and of course there’s nothing about people with tattoos or piercings not being allowed to board flights. He’s not going to have to write a letter because this will be in the national news within a few hours and make BA look like complete asses. PR messes like this hardly matter when these companies have a monopoly on flights though. For months they were losing basically everyone’s luggage that went through that airport and yet they still remain in business. I’ve had some of the most demoralizing experiences flying and can commiserate with Madden. When someone treats me like that I try to rationalize that it’s their problem, and that they must hate their job so much that they have to take it out on someone. At least Madden has a much larger audience than most of us to witness that he was discriminated against, as upsetting as it must have been.
Update: This post previously had photos of Benji Madden that were incorrectly labeled as Joel. Those have been fixed and thanks to Ima for pointing it out.
We have sent the following message to British Airways Public Relations via e-mail and are waiting for a response:
Dear British Airways public relations,
On a Saturday flight from Heathrow to Lisboa, Portugal, rocker Joel Madden was told by a British Airways staff member to cover up his arm tattoos before boarding. Madden has tattoos of religious figures on both of his forearms. He quietly complied with the request although he told the BA person that he felt he was being discriminated against. Madden immediately posted this on his Twitter, which has nearly 100,000 followers.
http://www.celebitchy.com/48287/joel_madden_forced_by_british_airways_to_cover_tattoos_before_boarding_flight/
Does British Airways have a policy of making all airline passengers cover visible tattoos or was this an isolated incident? Will the staff member who did this be disciplined if it was not in accordance with airline policy?
[We sent this via e-mail to BA Public Relations, at media.relations@ba.com]
Joel Madden is shown out on 4/8/09. He is also seen with girlfriend Nicole Richie on 4/26/09. Credit: Fame Pictures
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