Airline baggage fees are too damn high these days ... and depending on what airline you’re flying (and the distance you are going), that feeling of being ripped off can vary. Do you get a first bag free or is the first bag $25? Is it the same price for each bag or do the prices increase in increments as you add more bags?
One man trying to fly out of Iceland last week attempted to take a unique approach to solving the issue of excessive baggage fees by throwing on all of the clothes he had packed—some 10 shirts and eight pairs of pants, some of which appeared to be tied around his neck like scarves.
But the lone traveler, whom the Iceland Monitor identified as Ryan Carney Williams, ran into trouble as he tried to fly to England from Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport when, he says, he was booted off his British Airways flight for wearing too many clothes.
Williams, who also goes by “Ryan Hawaii,” posted a pair of videos to Twitter showing himself wearing the bulky layers of clothing, looking more like a cartoon character than anything else.
In one video he can be seen asking airport employees why he couldn’t board the flight. One employee can be seen holding a finger to his face, threatening to call the police.
In another video, he’s seen beyond fully clothed, shaking his head and calling the situation “despicable.”
But according to Williams, his clothing decision wasn’t some stunt or clever way to simply evade baggage fees. On Twitter, he explained that he couldn’t afford the baggage fee of 90 pounds (about $124) as a result of having been homeless in Iceland for over a week.
Nonetheless, police were called to the scene, and Williams says the officers used pepper spray on him before placing him under arrest, the Monitor reported.
He was later released after giving a report to the police and sent back to the airport, but his travel troubles continued.
He was turned away yet again by yet another airline, easyJet, after trying to secure another flight back to England.
He later posted a screenshot of a DM in which an easyJet representative told him that the captain made the decision to offload him from the flight, and that for that reason, his ticket would not be refunded.
The airline later backtracked and refunded him his money, however.
“The captain and the ground crew were concerned about reports from the previous day, so we provided a refund and he traveled with another airline,” easyJet spokeswoman Ruth Bishop told the Washington Post.
Yes, eventually, according to the Post, Williams’ saga came to an end after he was able to fly home on a third airline.
Read more at the Iceland Monitor and the Washington Post.