This article is awful. It keeps asking the same question, “If a shirt is over the line, what else can they take from us?” But when the author repeatedly stumbles on the answer, they pivot back to questioning how a private business runs itself like they don’t see the obvious answer.

Why not stick to the safe operation of the flight as the main criteria rather than saying that not wearing a shirt inside out is “not complying with the directions of airline staff?” If it displays profanity then a quiet word may be a better solution, but Delta and all airlines will need to make it much clearer what is acceptable to wear on their flights when selling tickets.

The man was wearing a Trump shirt. Folks who wear that merch outside are both erratic and lack social awareness to self monitor in stressful situations. Now put that flight into a problematic scenario and ask yourself “is that someone that can reliably handle the pressure to help others without adding risk?”

Delta chose to deboard the passenger when they didn’t comply with a request. Refusing the request is a litmus test for general helpfulness and he failed.