The holiday spirit is in the air at the La Guardia Airport in New York City two days before Christmas, with airline employees greeting people "Merry Christmas." One particular passenger of the American Airlines, however, appeared to be the holiday's Grinch.
The passenger who, for yet unknown reasons, was not in the mood for yuletide greetings on Dec. 23, became irate when a gate agent greeted everyone "Merry Christmas!" while checking the passengers' boarding passes.
Instead of just ignoring the greeting, the unnamed passenger, who appeared to be traveling alone on American Airlines Flight 1140 bound for Dallas Fort Worth, barked at the gate agent not to say "Merry Christmas" before brushing past her.
"You shouldn't say that because not everyone celebrates Christmas," the man said.
Things reportedly got worse when he boarded the plane, where he received another yuletide greeting from a flight attendant. The man again told the employee not to say "Merry Christmas!" Furious, he went on lecturing the flight crew.
American Airlines staffers tried to appease the man and get him into his seat, but the passenger refused to calm down. He was eventually ushered out of the plane, with the other passengers cheering and applauding his removal.
The airplane left the airport 40 minutes later than schedule. The grumpy passenger, on the other hand, was booked on a later flight, according to American Airlines spokesperson Josh Freed. The man may have already been aware of the possible consequences of exploding over Christmas greetings since no incident had been reported on his flight.
It is not clear whether the passenger's refusal for Christmas greetings had anything to do with his religious belief, or lack of it, but many people commenting on the incident said that Christmas greetings deserve a good response even from people who are not Christians.
"I'm not a Christian. Yet, at this time of year, when a Christian wishes me a 'Merry Christmas,' I take it in the spirit of which it was intended: That the wisher would like me to have a good day, health, prosperity and all that good stuff," a user who goes by the name Jenchantress said in response to the airport brouhaha. "Life's not so fabulous or guaranteed that I feel as if I should be rejecting good wishes because the wisher happens to be of a different religion than I am. "
