Pilots and flight attendants have too much power (and paradoxically, too little pay and benefits).
It's downright depressing to see just how eagerly we have surrendered our rights as citizens, on a number of levels, but the multiple submission rituals required to board a plane is perhaps the most blatant, public example of just how easily a once proud, free people can be so easily cowed and duped. Land of the free? My ass!

financial consultant?   LMAO!!!

Esposito - you're basing your "LMAO" on what exactly? That she's black?

I google her, she is a pretty girl.

Cool story bro.

All planes should have dress code. She is too old to travel looking like a fool. Whats next flying in the nude.

Posting comments without a brain?

This reminds me of the incident with Professor Henry Louis Gates: black person doing normal, everyday things, things that almost all of us have done at some point in almost the exact same way, getting manhandled by authority figures, who's rage then unnaturally escalated, Incredible Hulk-style, when the person has the AUDACITY to say, "Hey, what the heck?  I'm just trying to go into the multi-million-dollar house I own" or "I'm just trying to go to Miami to drink some frozen daquiris in my daisy dukes!"

So at what point do these normal, innocuous activities lead to certain persons in our population being figuratively body-slammed from the third rope by the police or loser flight attendants?  I thought you had to be drunk or on drugs or a terrorist to get kicked off a plane?  I just want the 411 so I can avoid ending up on Gothamist having idiots dispute my work history even though it was reported by a legitimate news outlet and verified by other Gothamist posters...  I'm just using my god-given common sense here, folks, but methinks their over-reaction was not just due to a random mis-alignment in the cosmos or bad coffee.  It can't just be her clothes and gender; we've all seen women dressed MUCH MORE HIDEOUSLY on trips to and from warm destinations, some of them even morbidly obese (*shudder*).  It can't be her personality, unless the supervisor had a speed date with her before giving her those love-taps with his walkie-talkie.  That leaves the obvious: race.

Racism exists, people, and that's why it's in the Oxford English dictionary.  So sorry if you are one of those self-absorbed individuals who is too uncomfortable and/or unfamiliar with this simple (but stupid) concept experienced and described by millions of minorities from all socio-economic strata to acknowledge it, and you prefer to go through the exhausting process of coming up with bizarre, implausible explanations to resolve the disturbing cognitive dissonance, even though in the back of your mind you know the explanation doesn't really matter since you know this will *probably* never happen to you because you're not black.  Yes, things are better: not every black person is poor, and many are educated (probably she is one of them, because she is smart enough to get a lawyer).  That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt the pride and feelings of that rich, educated black person when she is kicked off a flight for no reason while her fellow passengers, some white, some black but wearing pants, fly off into the sunset (or sunrise in this case).  Smart people should not ignore or dismiss racism, but neither should they fear that they are responsible (unless they are, of course).  Normal black people don't hate white people.  All they want is to be left in peace to go to Florida.  In their Daisy Dukes.  And perhaps some employment now and then.  And band-aids that are brown.  And more black dermatologists.  And for Tyler Perry to retire.

So I say sue them, girlfriend.  Sue them good!!!!   Get a public apology, too!  For better or worse, that's the only way to teach corporations not to allow power-drunk, racist sociopaths into positions that affect people's lives.  This pilot seems high-strung and I would not want him to fly my plane.  Girlfriend, maybe we'll meet up one day I'll tell you about my experience with Air France last December, and you'll see how airlines act when they know they CANNOT be sued due to international travel laws ("No luggage for you for two weeks...oui, madame, it's in the luggage room but we're too busy to look for it, so sorry, Happy New Year, bon voyage").  Obviously this will come up in court, along with all the other ridiculous collapses in protocol and reasoning of the crew, but DID THEY REALLY THINK YOU WALKED THROUGH SECURITY WITH NO PANTS ON??????  Sure, you could have randomly taken them off once at the gate, but I saw no mention of you being, in addition to a financial advisor, schizophrenic.

WORD!

i do not agree with what this pilot did in any way. having said that, i don't think this is a case of racism. if this pilot did this to every black person that boarded his plane then i would say absofuckinlutely! but i'm not getting that from this article. it ain't like he was standing there with a white sheet, burning a cross, and lynching every black person on the plane. he thought her attire was inappropriate and he has the authority to do what he did. all he has to deem is it was a distraction to normal operations on the plane. my guess is people complained to him and he had to take some sort of action.

 i definately have to agree with you on the whole attire issue though. i've seen some crazy get ups on jetblue flights and other airlines for that matter that weren't even given a second glance.

was this handled incorrectly? just by reading the article, i would have to say no. if there is more to the story (and there most likely is), then the jurys out. ultimately the courts will decide who is wrong

She wasn't asked if she was wearing panties flat out - she was asked if she was wearing PANTS, because she wore those god-awful shorts with a teeshirt too long to see them. Any establishment has the right to refuse service based on imappropriate attire (No shirt, no shoes no service, anyone?). She was at first allowed back on the plane, so I'm wondering if we're not getting both sides of the story here - perhaps the pilot's choice was based on her behavior after the incident and he worried she would be trouble on the flight.

This skank is disgusting, and is one of those idots who walks around pissing everyone off, and being rude, gross, and vile.   You know, the kind who is just waiting for someone to call her out on what ever haneous thing she is wearing, saying or doing....so that she can try and sue them, or..better yet, sue and say the people are racist. 

Somone that grizzly looking...fat, whorish and old should burn any shorts that remotely resemble those. F uck ing nasty bitch.......

Everyone listen up....dress for your body type, AGE, disgusting factor, and the occasion.
We don't want to see it...ho bag.

Amazing the stupidity I'm seeing on this site.

Wow, you got all of that from a grainy photo?  You sound like the rude one...

Perhaps the dark spot just below her crotch is a giant mound of her pubes, that surely would be enough to boot her off the plane.

but seriously, the fact that a pilot can kick someone off a plane for just not liking them is bullshit - regardless of how she looks or was dressed she was "investigated" and known to be wearing proper clothing.

Don't be puttin your dirty __________ * on the seat on my flight! (* insert anything you wish: snatch, kitty, junk, yoni, vajajay, cooter, hoo-ha, coozie, dew-flaps, quim, rosebud, sugar basin, love tunnel, lady flower, bower of bliss, oracle, pink taco, clam beef curtains, hair pie, jam cookie, penis garage, badger, mossy cottage, jack nastyface, cunnikin, fanny, arbor, or whatever else you call it). And don't be dressing like a hoochie mama either! Have some class.

Jam cookie? Havent heard that one before...

You sure that's a woman?

Wow, people here are terrible.  1.) She WAS wearing pants and panties.  2.) It was a 6am flight.  Maybe you get up a 3am to look like a glamour queen for an early morning flight but I'd probably wear something similar.  and 3.) JetBlue has no business dictating what paying passengers can and can't wear on their flights!  If airlines want to go back to the glory days of air travel when people dressed up like flights, then stop treating passengers like cattle and make flying a pleasureable experience again.

I agree with you edm_2000, they have the audacity to dictate what a paying customer is wearing, like she was some child of his and he didn't approve of her attire. Personally I think Jet blue should reassess this incident and really consider terminating that pilot. That was down right MEAN of him. Whatever happened to the "Friendly Skies of United?" I'm a frequent flyer, and they can be the rudest flight attendants at times. When I was in my teens in the early 80's it was such a joy to fly. They were so nice then. I believe they're so overcome with fear, due to the T-word, I think they've become really mean spirited. Remedial hospitality training is desperately need with these Airlines. Scratch me from Jet Blue's passenger list.