The friendly skies continue to turn increasingly hostile, as The Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reports that a passenger was removed from a Delta flight for going to the bathroom before takeoff. It seems the man, Kima Hamilton, was on a flight on April 18 from Atlanta to Milwaukee, where he lives and teaches art. The plane was taxied, and the passengers had been instructed to remain seated, but after the plane stayed up for another half hour—according to an eyewitness—Hamilton had to go to the bathroom, so he did. Hamilton had attempted to use the plane’s bathroom earlier, but was told by a flight attendant that they’d lose their place “in line” to take off. After that, a couple of flight attendants took turns asking Hamilton to disembark, without explaining why he had to, or if he’d be allowed to take off with the rest of the passengers once the matter (which was still unclear) had been resolved.
You can see Hamilton calmly asking for more information from the attendant, after which he was joined by fellow passengers in questioning the likelihood of him making his way aboard that same flight. “It was already understood and decided that I was a problem and I was getting kicked off the plane,” Hamilton tells the Sentinel Journal. As he made his way to the gate, he says “there were FBI agents waiting for me with Delta personnel.” One of his fellow passengers stayed with him, which, in addition to his own calm demeanor in the face of the latest bout of nonsense from airlines, Hamilton believes prevented him from getting arrested. He was refunded part of his ticket cost, but had to fly on a different airline—at three times the cost—in order to get home.