A man says he was accused of stealing an iPhone on a BA flight because he was the ‘only black man on the plane’. Jonathan Vardon claims he was forced to turn out his pockets and his underwear after he was singled out by other passengers over the colour of his skin.
The 26-year-old was also met and searched by armed Spanish police when he arrived in Barcelona – even though he had already been searched on the plane. He tweeted:
‘What a surreal experience! I was wrongly accused of theft on a @British_Airways flight from London to Barcelona. ‘My friends and I were searched by armed police and there was no apology. I was the only black person on the flight #racists.’
Apple worker Jonathan says another passenger wrongly accused him of taking the phone after it went missing on a flight from Gatwick. But the fellow traveler had actually left the phone in the plane toilet – and Jonathan said he was not given an apology later.
Jonathan said:
‘It felt like other passengers singled me out because I was the only black man on the plane. It was mortifying.’ His partner Drew Clauson slammed the ‘outrageous’ incident before pointing out that several people could have used the toilet but instead they picked out Jonathan. Jonathan was made to turn out his pockets and nothing was found on him.