A Passenger Was Banned From Two Flights for Wearing Too Many Pairs of Pants

A British Airways passenger was denied boarding last week for wearing too much clothing.

Ryan Carney Williams — who goes by the name Ryan Hawaii — was attempting to pull a trick commonly used by budget travelers to avoid paying excess baggage charges at Iceland's Keflavik International Airport.

When Hawaii showed up to the airport for a flight home to London, his carry-on bag was overstuffed. He said he asked if he would be allowed to board if he took the clothes from his bag and wore multiple outfits to avoid paying a $124 (£90) fee, which he said he could not afford.

According to Hawaii, the British Airways gate agent agreed and Hawaii left to put on his clothing, including eight pairs of pants and 10 shirts. When he came back to the desk, he "was still refused [his] boarding pass," Hawaii wrote in a tweet.

Airline employees called security to remove Hawaii from the desk when he refused to leave. According to local reports, he was barred entry for "rowdiness" and held to the ground by police. Hawaii claimed that he was treated unfairly because of racial profiling.

In a statement to The Telegraph, British Airways responded: "The decision to deny boarding was absolutely not based on race. We do not tolerate threatening or abusive behaviour from any customer, and will always take the appropriate action."

The airline said they explained "policy to our customer, and arranged an alternative flight to London."​

However when Hawaii showed up for his "alternative flight" onboard easyJet the following day, he was turned away. That airline said in a statement that "the captain and the ground crew were concerned about reports from the previous day so we provided a refund and he travelled with another airline."​

Hawaii was refunded by both British Airways and easyJet and was able to fly to England on a Norwegian Air flight the following day.