Too many bags? I’ll WEAR my luggage!
FACED with a £90 charge from British Airways for his extra bag of clothing, Ryan Williams thought he had the perfect solution.
The fashion designer decided to put on eight pairs of trousers and ten shirts at the check-in – but became embroiled in a row with staff, ending in his arrest.
The 22-year-old missed his BA flight from Iceland to the UK, and claims he was also barred from an easyJet plane the next day.
Mr Williams, who makes music and designs clothes under the name Ryan Hawaii, filmed the row with airline staff at Iceland’s Keflavík International Airport, whom he has accused of racial profiling. ‘If I was a young white male or young white female I would have been treated slightly differently,’ Mr Williams, from Catford, south London, told MailOnline.
British Airways said the decision to deny boarding was not because of the luggage and was ‘absolutely not based on race’ but on Mr Williams’s behaviour.
A spokesman added: ‘We do not tolerate threatening or abusive behaviour.’ After giving police a statement Mr Williams returned to the airport the next day to get an easyJet flight, but says he wasn’t allowed to board. EasyJet confirmed the captain and crew ‘were concerned about reports from the previous day’.
Mr Williams, who flew home on a Norwegian airline, said that both easyJet and British Airways had refunded him after he complained.