Thomas Cook Apologizes to Muslim Pax Removed Over “Unverified Concerns”

Two Thomas Cook passengers were escorted from a flight in Izmir, Turkey after two other flyers complained that the reportedly Muslim men posed a security risk.

Eyewitnesses say that two “innocent Muslim men” were escorted from an İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB) to Manchester Airport (MAN) bound Thomas Cook flight on Wednesday after a pair of fellow passengers raised dubious security concerns about the men. In this case, however, the passengers returned to the flight for a short time while the two accusers were left behind at the gate.

According to The Daily Mail, the pair were removed from the plane prior to departure after two women reported witnessing the two men of Middle Eastern descent “skipping security scanners” and “making gestures” to each other. The flight was delayed for nearly 90 minutes while the two travelers were re-screened by airport security.

Those on the flight later told reporters that the episode was an “embarrassment,” describing the situation as smacking of Islamophobia. “Two innocent Muslim men were marched off plane and searched as two English ladies refused to fly with them on the plane,” one unnamed passenger told the Mail’s Anthony Joseph.

The men were eventually allowed to re-board the flight, but at this point the two accusers reportedly refused to fly and were allowed to disembark.

The two passengers who were initially removed from the flight were said to have remained calm and cooperative throughout the apparently unwarranted ordeal – a fact for which the airline publicly expressed gratitude.

“Two customers on this flight were asked to go through security a second time as a precaution, after unverified concerns were raised that the initial airport security check had missed them out,” a Thomas Cook spokesperson told the newspaper. “We’d like to thank these two customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience.”

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