Green Day singer kicked off plane

Singer Billie Joe Armstrong of the band "Green Day" performs during the first concert of their Latin America tour in Caracas, Venezuela, on Oct. 8, 2010. / MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/AFP/Getty Images

Singer Billie Joe Armstrong of the band "Green Day" performs during the first concert of their Latin America tour in Caracas, Venezuela, on Oct. 8, 2010.

/ MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/AFP/Getty Images

OAKLAND, California - Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong says his sagging pants cost him a seat on a Southwest Airlines flight.

The singer-guitarist for the San Francisco Bay area-based band sent a message to his Twitter followers on Thursday expressing his indignation at being tossed from an Oakland-to-Burbank flight for wearing his trousers too low.

An ABC7 news producer who was on the same flight told the station that a flight attendant approached Armstrong before take-off and asked him to hike his pants higher.

The producer, Cindy Qiu, says when Armstrong insisted he was just trying to get to his seat, he and a traveling companion were taken off the plane.

Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins says in a statement that Armstrong was allowed to board the next flight.

[pak31]

Why can't people just obey the rules. No one in America seems to think that the rules apply to them. He was asked to do something so do it. I am a very different person. I don't ever want to upset anyone and if someone in a business, or a school or anything makes a request of me, I follow with what they say. I don't tell them off or think I am better than they are. Just do what they say and be quiet. Just because you are famous doesn't make you better than the rest.

[barbaram99]

are ye in america dear..i have heard it all Americans are rude..I fall in that lot don't i as a blind person. The sighted are the problem. what are we doing wrong/

[ReckonedTruth]

Why would any REAL MAN expose his butt crack or under-garment intentionally to the public? Its nasty and unsanitary..and publically if I'm at event where these pants sagging characters have to greet the public? Don't expect me to shake your hands(laughing)..

One thing you don't want to do is get in conflict with a airline attendant who has the final say at the moment as opposed to the airline passenger on any airline, safety comes first before celebrity status. I wouldn't want to follow behind this passenger in case of a flight emergency, he may stumble and fall as result from sagging pants.. and that moment may be the split seconds whether I or other passengers- live or die.

[Tatersoop]

The "origin" of the loose baggy pants is from juvenile prisons where those in charge felt that loose pants would hinder prisoners from running because their pants would fall off.

First off, I wouldn't want to see the pimply crack of this guy's butt anyway.

Second off, if this guy was in my way as I tried to get off the plane in an emergency and tripped and fell in accordance with his hoodlum wanna be pants design, he is endangering my safety.

[venusvegasvada]

Do you want to be the one stuck behind him, while everyone is trying to get off the plane in a hurry, but can't because his pants are so low he can't move fast?

[josephp5]

It's easy for people to say that the guy should have just pulled his pants up. But I'm not sure that is all there is to it.

Southwest Airlines has a corporate culture that emphasizes to its employees that, contrary to the saying, the customer is NOT always right. This helps maintain employee loyalty in the face of low salaries. And in the airline industry, an employee must sometimes require an unreasonable customer to cooperate or not fly. Southwest employees know that they can disagree with a customer and the company will support them.

But the downside of this culture is that Southwest employees can sometimes be tyrannical and capricious. I have seen the A&E program "Airline" that features real Southwest employees and their customers, and I have seen several employee-customer disputes where I thought the customer was treated unfairly by Southwest---this on a show that is certainly edited to present Southwest in a good light. And I also have seen at least two other cases where women were denied flights because of inappropriate dress, but the pictures the women show of what they were wearing don't look much different from what you might see in any office place.

In short, perhaps the airline was justified in giving the Green Day guy a hard time about his pants, but knowing the Southwest culture I have my suspicions.

[Overruled1]

I don't like the "pants you almost wear" style either...

I happen to know where this style started...In prison.
In prisons, inmates don't wear belts or shoelaces...they are banned because they are weapons.
This however looks rather funny when viewed from the yard with inmates losing weight and dropping pants are common.
How and why it became a style went with rap music and gangster rap....which is an underground culture today.

In any case,
Today it should only be an issue if actual skin is penetrating the surface for anyone to see. The look today is an intimidating form of political enhancement.

[Overruled1]

in other words, the look is a form of civil disobedience.

[LizInPA]

Publicity stunt by an aging celebrity.

Southwest Air and their dress code have been in the news a lot this year.

[Irby32]

SWA needs to lay off..this is silly. Let the man fly

[ddog88]

Butt crack kills.

[queenrosered]

Oh..My...God! All this brouhaha about saggy britches?
I've never seen so many uptight, pearl-clutching idiots since Nixon was in the White House and J Edgar was in charge of mucking things up!
Admittedly, I'm not a fan of Green Day in particular...and I don't personally care for the "pants on the ground" look...but,this is ALL just overkill in my opinion.Armstrong had a point...the flight attendant obviously could have been using her time more constructively.
And unless I'm mistaken..he went through all the usual pre-boarding security checks.Why were the "saggy pants" not mentioned PREVIOUS to boarding?
If airlines are now also in the business of being "fashion Police"...why were we not told? Is it truly against their policy to dress in poor taste?
That attendant should apply for a job at Walmart. Now THERE'S a real job for the fashion Police!! It's a whole CAREER!
If you rule out anyone with open-toed footwear, breast or butt cleavage, muffin tops, cellulite, saggy or tight pants, camel toes, moose knuckles, or just plain old nasty-azzed clothing tastes..WHO will be filling up those seats in coach?
At least he didn't take a whiz in the aisle. (not YET anyway!)
I would insist on free flights from SWA in the future if I were him.
And for those of you who don't see the idiocy or the humor in this whole debacle, wow....you're just hopeless.Sux to be you.

[omgleaveitalone]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! I'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling EXACTLY what you describe! Other than flying with SWA again! Forget them... promote other businesses... discourage others from flying SWA!! Oops, sorry, my wrists are showing!!! It'll never happen again! Please, let me fly!!! Get a life!