do it.

Terrible press, public apologies, and monetary compensation?

Not to mention the risk of lawsuits.

If there's a thread that I hoped to find "nitpicker" in, this one was it!!!

Wear dark glasses, keep your hands in your pockets, eyes and ears open, mouth shut.

And don't make any sudden movements.

My Spider Sense is atingle, feeling like the elephant in the room not being discussed.

Often, it seems, an article will mention race if they are nonwhite, but have no mention of race if they are white.

But who knows?

This was conveyed to us by both our daycare and co-workers.

In aa hair ?

“In the United States, infestation with head lice is much less common among African-Americans than among persons of other races, possibly because the claws of the of the head louse found most frequently in the United States are better adapted for grasping the shape and width of the hair shaft of other races.”

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs.html

I'd really like to know what the Newman family looked like.

southwest has a very old, and very long, history of abusing passengers. From muslims, to mathemeticians, to short skirts and tee shirst they found offensive.

They are among the most authoritarian airlines in the country. And they suck.

They have always gotten great ratings and customer satisfaction. When I fly somewhere, I look for flights on Southwest first.

I am happy to tell you this post is nonsense. Did they forget your peanuts or something? Make you wear a pesky seatbelt?

Employees even better.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiM9fvLs7TYAhXQ31QKHZN2Cf0QFggsMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F4959860%2Fsouthwest-airlines-passenger-removed%2F&usg=AOvVaw2UcEHxBFHxoXsfSszZxTMu

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/17/us/southwest-muslim-passenger-removed/index.html

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=118&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiVwOeatbTYAhWCwlQKHe7DAfk4bhAWCFUwBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fabc7chicago.com%2Ftravel%2Fpassenger-kicked-off-flight-for-poking-snoring-seatmate-with-pen%2F664214%2F&usg=AOvVaw1ZvdCgY_jPQsVG99fF_nhv

and lots, lots, more..........

But rather how I see the airline treat everybody. Absent a very few incidents, this is not a problematic airline.

Never had any serious issues w/their service, policies, etc. Basically, for an airline? They're pretty damn cool. 2 free suitcases, tickets where you can miss your flight and transfer to another without a fee, etc.

And am pretty sure during the waits at the gate I have scratched my head from time to time and flakes were visible.

In high school I was reported to the school nurse for a possible case of lice. While embarrassing for me and the nurse, it was not that big of a deal. I explained my dermatological condition and after a quick check for nits a sincere apology was given to me and I was back in class within minutes.

SWA blew it big time. Also there is no excuse for making the family wait to fly out two days later. They should have paid for the family to get on a next available flight on an alternate carrier if necessary. A PR nightmare.

I can see why the other passengers were concerned. It's contagious.

Mothers....if you're going to pick stuff out of your kids' hair, and things like that, go to the restroom. Does she really need to be told that?

I've been around a long time. Never have I ever had to pick anything out of my hair in public, or seen anyone do that. And I've seen some weird things. That activity is consistent with having lice, and it's an unusual thing to do in public for any other reason. Yuk.

The airline made the only decision it could, since it couldn't be confirmed yea or nay, and the airline would have been responsible for other passengers getting lice, if that's what the problem was.

But with black hair, particularly in any "natural" style, there is a higher tendency for lint to adhere to the coarser curly strands and it would be ridiculous to haul off to a bathroom to do a quick groom. Doing such has nothing to do with any "lice".

There was no indication in the article what the race of the family was but the assumptions about "hair" are a flashpoint in certain cultures.

In all types of places. I've NEVER seen anyone picking stuff out of hair like she was doing. So I can understand the other passengers' concern. It wasn't like a leaf falling on the head, and someone brushed it off. She was digging through the hair to pick out something or something(s), just like you do with lice.

Lesson learned. Do such things in the restroom, and then wash your hands.

and given there wasn't any video of this incident, no one on DU knows what was actually observed. What you think is "lice" might not be interpreted as that by another culture.

Perhaps something similar might be if you come inside from the cold into a dry static environment and pulled off a puffy knit hat and the pills of the yarn stick to your hair, I assume you'd walk around like that.

And it was the passengers, more than one, who expressed concern. Lots of parents are familiar with lice.

My point is merely that it the actions were consistent with a lice issue, so the airline really didn't have a choice, since it couldn't be determined one way or the other. Had the parents gone to the restroom to begin with, none of this would've happened.

And yes, my years of exposure to people in public places IS something that matters. I've been around a lot of different kinds of people in my decades on earth, so I've seen a thing or two that my younger self had not yet seen, or that other younger people have not yet seen.

"Being around" people is completely different from living in a community with cultural perceptions, expectations, and practices that are completely different from yours. Everyone has "seen a thing or two" that others have not seen and your post is an example of apparently "not having seen" a whole range of things yet insisting you have.

The only thing people around you will be curious about is if you are a wiper or a flicker

This had nothing to do with race at all (African-Americans generally don’t get lice), and there was a legitimate concern that the child may have had head lice, which could have crawled into the aircraft seating and then onto the unlucky passenger to next sit in the seat occupied by the child. I once got lice after staying at a 5-Star hotel on Central Park. It happens. And I won’t fault the Airline in the absence of evidence that it actually did something wrong.

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs.html

had to do with cultural perceptions of a particular situation such as this and the assumption of what might be going on. And the fact that AAs are not generally as prone to lice is part of the reason why, but not ALL of the why.

In some cultures, "grooming" is paramount and often done immediately... not unlike seeing a woman's bra strap or slip or clothing tag "showing" and letting them know or gently correcting the malfunction (although nowadays the millennials and younger seem to like that type of thing as a "style" ).

is exactly why there are some serious cultural issues in this country, regardless of "race", although they may emanate from certain "races" due to shared belief systems by ethnicity. I.e., "assumptions" are made based on cultural expectations, perceptions, and indoctrination that often can be detrimental to others.

We do not actually know that the child did not have lice. The family says that, but there was no way to determine that at the time. A health provider or someone would need to determine that. The airline could have called a health provider to examine the child, I suppose...I assume the airport has a nurse on call.

I support the airline. They have to be cautious about things like that.

I don't know why you're fixated on culture or race or whatever. I don't know what culture or race they were...but possibility of lice is worldwide. Culture doesn't enter into it. The family didn't claim, "Oh, our culture picks through the heads and hair of people all the time." In fact, to the contrary, the dad said mom was picking through the hair because of big dry skin flake(s). Clearly, there was something about what she did that was NOT just pulling a leaf or object from the hair. It was a procedure that looked like picking out lice.

And your comment "Oh, our culture picks through the heads and hair of people all the time." truly exposes a breathtakingly insulting bias.

"That's pretty weird, picking stuff out of her daughter's hair and looking thru it..."

No doubt, many people believe that cursory examinations of one's children is pretty weird, indeed.

It's also an effective way to rationalize blaming someone for something they are not guilty of, and to ignore that the vast majority (95%+ as per CDC) of lice cases are transferred via hair-to-hair contact only.

It's rather a shame you provide zero objective evidence for your many, many claims.

Consistent, though.

Typical, even.

Yet still rather a shame indeed.

People just don't understand lice very well. "Highly contagious disease"? Please. Lice can't fly and die off the body in a few hours.

PO-LICE!

Now, if it were one of Ivanka's kids scratching his/her head, I can see why the airline officials might be concerned. . .

There should have been a better way of handling the situation more discretely.