I feel for the poor girl, but still:
Her parents insisted that she wasn’t sick, just Scottish
I must be getting better! Give me a few more days for my sense of humor to mature to something slightly less infantile.
Only slightly, mind you.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I found the appropriate music for reading the article to.
She gets too much of that Maldivian sun with too little sunscreen and she really might be too sick to fly.
Her name is too close to ‘wan’. That’s the real confusion here. They thought it was a description.
Reminds me of Billy Connolly’s quip that Scots are naturally pale blue and need a week in the sun to turn white.
Given your problems, I’m glad you found it funny. But I don’t think that would have been the response if the airline had found the girl too dark to fly. I’ve never been directly discriminated against as a (formerly) red- haired, pale skinned person (of Irish ancestry in my case), but I was forced by my parents to sunbathe unprotected for long periods as a child to “put some colour into me”. All that resulted was sore red skin that peeled for weeks afterwards, and the occasional collapse from heat fatigue. And fortunately without so far any worse results.
I wish these organisations would just do their job properly – carrying people and their luggage safely, comfortably and punctually to their chosen destination- rather than playing the perhaps more exciting roles of amateur doctor, anti- terrorist agent, or immigration officer.
This is why its important to have green eggs with yer ham. Insufficient green eggs, or insufficiently green eggs, won’t fill your system (at least until the system decides you need to do some technicolour explosive mouth painting, preferably in the airline’s queue for highly appreciated results) with those wonderful fuzzy things that lead to all sorts of mental and physical colour changes. A swaying, kaleidoscopically-coloured young lady explosive mouth-painting artiste clearly is too sick to fly (or even be in the aeroport if you want to be boring pedantic), so there wouldn’t be any arguments with concerned desk staff, or headdesking over the reasons for concern of the staff.
So eat up all yer green eggs!
(Peas are rumoured to achieve the same result. This is not verified, it’d be unethical to ask anyone to eat a pea.)
Lawrence @ #4 you beat me to it, ya radge.
oooh, shame on me… I could not laugh, only smile a bit. It is hard to object to the airline showing such concern for a passenger’s health that they required a doctor’s note to allow her to board. The irony of the airline being so concerned about her health, they lost her luggage, was also mildly amusing.
To suppress the smile and get more serious; it does appear to be inconsistent that they would be hesitant about a single redhaired girl in particular. It is incomprehensible that she is the very first they have ever encountered, flying from Scotland. Is this their SOP, that every redhead must bring a doctor’s permission slip, stating “healthy to fly”, and she was the first to try to slip by without the permission slip? Gee, I thought the US TSA was bad…
Interesting tidbit thrown into that article: somewhat ‘victim shaming’, when they note that the family’s attire was too oppressive for the Maldive’s heat, being more appropriate for a Scottish summer. (where the temperature never goes over 15C, i infer).
I once had to tell someone that the guy with me wasn’t drunk, but Scottish.
Well, 10 years from now that will bee verybody’s best holiday story ever.
I know the reverse case: When the parents of one of my schoolfriends returned from a holiday in Cuba, German border police didn’t allow them to enter the country, accusing him of trying to smuggle his small, very tanned (first person I ever knew to had one of those tanning thingies at home), dark haired Cuban girlfriend into the country.
#8 slithey tove:
I didn’t read that as victim shaming purely for the reason that the article specified they were misattired due to their luggage being misplaced rather than through their own fault. The article said they had to endure the wrong clothing for the first three days of their trip due to their luggage being lost.
re 11
thank you for the clarification.
nota bene, my use of “somewhat”, meaning “could be interpreted as”.
my bad: giving the impression I read it as ‘shaming’, instead of how I actually read it.
This reminds me of a story told by Sir Sydney Smith in his autbiography.
Myth was an outstanding forensic pathologist who had studied in Edinburgh under the tutelage of Joseph Bell, the surgeon on whom Sherlock Holmes was based.
He was lecturing one day on a subject of a condition occasionally occuring among children and one of the symptoms of which was urinary incontinence. He further noted that it being Scotland the mothers of children with this ailment at least had the option of dressing them in a kilt to ease with the joob of changing napkins (diapers, to you gys).
Spotting one of the students was dozing, he stopped the lecture, drew the student’s attention and asked:
“A woman walks into your surgery with a child smelling strongly of urine and wearing a kilt. What diagnosis might you consider?”
“That he’s Scottish”, came the reply.
re @10:
Which causes a reminiscence of my trip to Hamburg, summer ’77, wearing my longish hair, during the summer of plane terrorism over Europe. The German customs police held me at the terminal accusing me of looking similar to one of their “most wanted” terrorists (based on a years old photo). They held me for hours, searching my luggage and even tearing apart the little travel-backgammon board I carried. They wouldn’t let me leave until I phoned my destination, D.E.S.Y. , to have them tell security that I actually was employed for the summer there. I just sat there, befuddled that they would only allow, the employed, to enter. what, they don’t allow vacationers to visit? won’t a smart terrorist “cover” with an accomplice to be called to fake employment verification?
Even so, it was just a few hours hassle, no holding cell, nor abuse of any kind. Just a few hour delay. Only slightly longer than these day’s hassle of simply trying to board a plane in the US. [looking at TSA’s SOP].
I just read the comments in the linked story and… why? Why must awful people be awful? Though jacksprocket @5 comes close to some of them in these comments, though xe isn’t outright calling it “racism”.
You’ll have to pay me quite a bit to spend my holidays in the Maldives, even if the beaches are said to be gorgeous. This tourists’ paradise is turning into a islamist hell for its citizens.
you know it is stories like this that makes me think when and if I ever get a vacation that I am not flying but will chose my destination based on where the I can go by train, driving is too much like work.
uncle frogy
I don’t believe that story. They are just about to board the plane and everybody waits while they first find a paramedic to give an opinion and then everybody waits even longer while the family gets a handwritten note from the doctor! Who just happened to be there at the airport? Or did they drive back into town and go to the doctor’s consulting rooms?
Aye, na thas a true Scotswoman!
I’m not sure the Scottish Daily Record is ultimately authoritative, but it’s there:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/youre-ginger-fly-teenage-scot-6044956
They had apparently arrived over 4 hours before the flight, not surprising as sensible travellers would build a lot of slack into a journey from Helensburgh to Manchester, only 250 miles but 4.5 to 7 hours by road or rail. The doctor’s note arrived by email and was not hand written.
Another instance of airline employees behaving like petty tyrants & making up arbitrary rules as they go along.
Red Rights!! Ginger Pride!
I may not look it now but 60 years ago I dressed as Howdy Doody for Halloween and had the freckles and red hair to go with the costume. There’s a little McCormick blood in the mix and plenty of red hair in the family.
Young girls get very body conscious at that age to begin with and now this poor 14-year old is singled out as so strange, so abnormal, she cannot fly in an airplane and you all are laughing at her? The airline all but told her she is a freak. That kind of humiliation is now set deep in her heart.
well speaking for myself only I am laughing at the incompetent reactions of the dam airline and their employes.
puffed up officious ass holes!
uncle frogy
Oh for fuck’s sake, really?
Yes, Azkyroth, really.
I’m laughing at the sheer absurdity of the situation.