Passenger removed from plane for ‘threatening’ T-shirt

'I feel like they just took my soul away'

According to local reports, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Catherine Banks was boarding a flight at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday, October 16, when a flight attendant approached her over the T-shirt she was wearing.

The T-shirt called for an end to veteran suicide.

Speaking to NBC Bay Area, Banks said: "A male flight attendant was saying, 'Ma'am, ma'am.' I looked around, like, 'Who was he talking to?' And it was me.

"He said, 'You need to get off the plane,' and I was like, 'What did I do?'"

Once she had disembarked from the plane, the flight attendant explained to her that her T-shirt, which read "Do not give in to the war within. End veteran suicide", was "threatening."

Recalling the interaction, Banks said: "I said, 'Are you kidding me? I'm a Marine Corps vet. I'm going to see my Marine sister. I've been in the Marine Corps for 22 years and worked for the Air Force for 15 years. I'm going to visit her.'

"He said, 'I don't care about your service, and I don't care about her service. The only way you're going to get back on the plane is if you take it off right now.'"

Banks said she had to turn away from the member of staff as she changed her shirt because she wasn't wearing a bra.

She claims flight staff then told her to sit at the back of the plane, even though she had paid for extra leg room.

She then missed her connecting flight later in the day due to the delay.

The T-shirt in question is made by the Til Valhalla Project, which provides support to US veterans, including mental health treatment.

"I feel like they just took my soul away. I'm not a bad person, and that T-shirt, I should be allowed to support myself and veterans," Banks told NBC Bay Area.

According to Delta's contract of carriage for American flights, the airline has sole discretion to decide if a passenger should be removed from a flight "for the passenger’s comfort or safety, for the comfort or safety of other passengers or Delta employees, or for the prevention of damage to the property of Delta or its passengers or employees."

Attendants are allowed to remove passengers from a plane when their "conduct, attire, hygiene or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offence or annoyance to other passengers."