Veteran Allegedly Kicked Off Delta Flight for Wearing 'Threatening' T-Shirt

A woman flying out of San Francisco International Airport was allegedly asked to deplane and change her shirt — which read 'End veteran suicide'

Charlotte Phillipp is a Weekend Writer-Reporter at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2024, and was previously an entertainment reporter at The Messenger.

A woman was allegedly asked to deplane from a Delta Air Lines flight earlier this week after she claims that a flight attendant told her the T-shirt she was wearing was "threatening."

According to reports from local San Francisco outlets SFGATE and NBC Bay Area, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Catherine Banks was boarding a flight at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday, Oct. 16 when a flight attendant approached her and asked her to get off the plane.

"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?' " Banks told NBC Bay Area.

After getting off the plane, Banks said that the flight attendant told her that her shirt — which read "Do not give in to the war within. End veteran suicide" — was "threatening."

"I said, 'Are you kidding me?' " she recalled to the outlet. "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.' "

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Banks told NBC Bay Area that she had to face away from the flight attendant as she changed into another sweatshirt because she wasn't wearing a bra.

Flight attendants, Banks claimed, also told her to sit in the back of the plane, even though she said she paid for an extra legroom seat. The flight was delayed, and she missed a connecting flight later in the day, she added.

Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty

Banks' shirt is made by the Til Valhalla Project, which helps provide mental health treatment to U.S. veterans, has renovated veterans' homes and more.

"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.

Til Valhalla Project

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According to Delta's contract of carriage for U.S. flights, the airline has sole discretion to determine whether or not passengers 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."

Certain conditions that allow flight attendants to remove passengers from a plane include "disorderly, abusive or violent" conduct or "[when] the passenger's conduct, attire, hygiene or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers."

A Delta spokesperson told PEOPLE in a statement: "The matter with the customer has been resolved. We appreciate her patience as we continue to work to understand what occurred during this event. Most importantly, we are thankful for her service to our country."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.