WestJet sorry for flap over flier's 'Ragged A**' shirt

WestJet is the latest North American airline to find itself in a dust-up over its passengers' outfits.

The Canadian low-cost carrier has apologized to one of its passengers after a flight attendant asked him to wear his shirt inside out because of a possibly offensive image.

The CBC reports the WestJet attendant cited the carrier's family-friendly policies in asking customer Ken Carson to cover his souvenir T-shirt, which showed a street sign reading "Ragged Ass Rd." The road apparently is well-known street name in Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's far-north Northwest Territories.

"Ragged Ass Road T-shirts and street signs apparently are popular souvenirs for tourists who make it to Yellowknife. As for the street, the CBC says it's located in the city's Old Town and dates back to the the region's "early gold-mining days."

And, the CBC notes WestJet has offered service to Yellowknife since 2009.

Back to Carson, he also claims the attendant didn't buy his explanation that the t-shirt referred to a territorial tourism icon.

Carson tells the CBC he rebuffed the attendant's initial request to wear the shirt inside out, but decided to cover his T-shirt with his jacket for the duration of his Vancouver-to-Edmonton flight this past Sunday.

But he then rifled off a letter to Canadian media – as well as to the mayor of Yellowknife. In the letter, Carson demanded an apology from WestJet, claiming his treatment humiliated him in front of other passengers.

WestJet has in fact apologized, and – in a past era – that might have been the end of the story. But not in the age of 24-hour news cycles and social media savvy.

The Globe and Mail of Toronto says that as soon as Northwest Territories tourism officials heard of the incident, they figured there was some good publicity to be milked from the flap. (Did you catch that WestJet has flown to Yellowknife since 2009?)

"It's 'How do we spin this positively? How do we get value out of it other than complaining?'" Yellowknife Mayor Gordon Van Tighem said to the Globe and Mail in a phone interview.

However, the Globe and Mail says "WestJet may have already beat the tourist offices to the punch. The airline sent out a Twitter response and photo. Under the photo is a caption apologizing for the incident, but with a twist."

In part, the photo caption reads: "Check out what our President and CEO, Gregg Saretsky, has had on his office door since he moved in 2 years ago."

Indeed, the photo shows a replica "Ragged Ass Rd." street sign on the CEO's door.

WestJet's photo caption concludes with: "We apologize for asking a guest to remove a "Ragged Ass Road" T-Shirt."