BERLIN: A court in Germany rejected a man's compensation claim against an airline after a cabin crew ordered him off a plane because other passengers were offended by his smell, authorities said. An appeals court in the western city of Duesseldorf upheld an earlier ruling that British Airways had acted within its rights by removing the man from the aircraft after a female passenger sitting next to him complained about his smell. "The stewardess took him to one side and asked him if he could put on a fresh shirt, but they were all in the hold," a court spokesman said. "So then he was asked to leave the plane – about two minutes before take off." BA said other passengers were upset by the smell, he added.
The corporate lawyer and his wife were scheduled to return home from Hawaii via Los Angeles on a BA flight sub-contracted to American Airlines last year, and missed their connection to Germany when the incident forced them to take the next plane.