A Ryanair passenger claims a Ryanair customer service agent at Stansted Airport near London threatened to boot him from a flight because he pointed out that the ‘pro-Hmas’ pin badge that he was wearing might make Jewish customers feel uncomfortable.
Adrian Yalland, an Anglo-Irish barrister, took to X to describe the interaction he had with the Ryanair representative on Saturday, saying:
“Hello Ryanair, your ‘customer service’ assistant at STN [Stansted] is wearing a pro-Hamas / intifada badge on his uniform, (associating Ryanair with his views). I tried to explain he might inadvertently make Jewish customers feel uncomfortable, but he was instantly aggressive.”
Hello @Ryanair your “customer service” assistant at STN is wearing a pro-Hamas / intifada badge on his uniform, (associating RyanAir with his views). I tried to explain he might inadvertently make Jewish customers feel uncomfortable but he was instantly aggressive.
— Adrian Yalland (@AdrianYalland) February 21, 2026
“I wasn’t allowed to explain the inappropriate nature of political badges in the workplace in general – he simply refused to listen to the view of his customer,” Yalland continued.
“Worse – he then called me ‘disgusting’ and ‘a racist.’ HE THEN THREATEND TO DE-BOARD ME.”
Yalland’s post on X quickly went viral, with conservative commentator Julia Hartley-Brewer piling the pressure on Ryanair:
“This is totally unacceptable,” Hartley-Brewer wrote. “I don’t want to fly with a company that allows its staff to promote ANY political views while at work – and definitely not support for a cause which promotes terrorism against Jews and the West in general. Sort this out.”
Over the last couple of years, airlines have been frequently caught up in the debate of whether it’s appropriate for front-line employees to wear pin badges in support of Palestine.
Even Palestine flag pin badges have proven to be incredibly controversial and have raised allegations of antisemitism.
In 2024, Delta Air Lines was accused of antisemitism after a flight attendant was spotted wearing a Palestine flag pin badge during a flight to Florida.
Although the flight attendant wasn’t breaking Delta’s uniform grooming rules as they stood at the time, the airline quickly barred staffers from wearing any flag pin badge other than the United States stars and stripes.
JetBlue introduced a similar policy after facing allegations of antisemitism, but United Airlines refused to back down in a row with a Jewish lobby group that demanded the airline bar its employees from wearing Palestine flag pins.
The Chicago-based carrier insisted that it would continue to allow flight attendants and other public-facing employees to wear flag pins that either represent a language they speak or represent “pride in a place to which they may have a special connection.”
In the United Kingdom, a Jewish law group accused Heathrow Airport of harassing Israeli passengers flying with national flag carrier ElAl by allowing security checkpoint staff to wear Palestine flag pins and watermelon pins.
There is, of course, a big difference between someone wearing a flag pin and someone wearing a badge that is linked to Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist group which is also a proscribed organization in the UK.
