AirTran Airways has issued a public apology and provided free return airfare to nine Muslim passengers who were forced off an AirTran flight to Orlando at Reagan National Airport yesterday after two other passengers overheard what they construed as threatening remarks.
AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said the company had also agreed to refund the travelers the cost of their tickets on another carrier after AirTran refused to rebook them.
I personally don't think a conversation wondering where the safest place to sit on a plane would be "suspicious" with the CO 1404 accident still fresh on everyone's minds.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ANC
the only problem I have with it all is ATA refusal to reboard them after they were cleared by the FBI. And like I said aside from the fares being refunded ATA shouldve paid the US Airways bill
What does ATA have to do with this situation. They ceased operating as an airline some time ago.
It's a shame the AirTran took the stance of not letting the passengers back on board even after being cleared by the FBI. While we may never know the exact exchange between the passengers, it seems as if AirTran and the other passengers completely over reacted. This family is guilty of one thing, FAM (Flying as Muslim).
What really pi$$es me off is that such people portray themselves as "patriotic Americans", when in their hysteria they are willing to sacrifice the very essence of what it means to be American.
Precisely. AirTran could prevent this happening again by banning the passengers who reported the innocuous conversation from ever flying with them again, and preferably making them known to other airlines too. The pilot and whoever refused to let the muslims travel after the FBI cleared them should be fired or at least sent off for some retraining.
We apologize to all of the passengers — to the nine who had to undergo extensive interviews from the authorities and to the 95 who ultimately made the flight. Nobody on Flight 175 reached their destination on time on New Year’s Day, and we regret it.
The airline has refunded the air fares of the nine passengers detained for questioning, has agreed to reimburse the passengers for expenses incurred by taking another airline and has also offered to transport the passengers home to Washington, D.C., free of charge.
Hopefully AirTran realizes it's mistake and apologizes.
What I heard from AirTran was NOT an apology. It was a "Sorry this happened, but we can't be too careful" statement. What was the point of deplaning and rescreening the pax? Did that make them safer since the *threat* had been removed? Were they not properly screened the first time? Can an inconvenienced pax ask to be accomodated on another airline?
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I didn't realize Airtran refused to transport even after being cleared by the feds. I don't care if your Middle Eastern, White, Hispanic, African American, Asian, Native American. You have to watch what you say in public.
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The airline has refunded the air fares of the nine passengers detained for questioning, has agreed to reimburse the passengers for expenses incurred by taking another airline and has also offered to transport the passengers home to Washington, DC, free of charge.
This is the correct thing to do. Sadly racial profiling is a serious issue in American life. Hopefully Airtran and other airlines will develop better policies in dealing with theses issues so that this type of event does not occur again.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CDKing
You have to watch what you say in public.
Not in a free country you don't. I think that maybe you need to go back to grade school, and retake those basic civics classes. Or maybe you live in Venezuela, Zimbababwe or North Korea ?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dgwright99
Not in a free country you don't. I think that maybe you need to go back to grade school, and retake those basic civics classes. Or maybe you live in Venezuela, Zimbabwe or North Korea ?
You may want to re-word your response a little. While people will have varying opinions on these issues you should not name call. A better argument would be to simply ask the individual the question is this simply a matter of security or does racial profiling play a role.
Airtran's initial blame the victim strategy ("people got on and said things that shouldn't have been said") and unwillingness to appropriately rebook or recompense these travelers ("Hutcheson said AirTran is not likely to reimburse the passengers for the additional cost of their replacement tickets on USAirways") is appalling. Their "apology" and subsequent backpedaling in the face of public backlash is too little too late. Instead of letting Airtran fly them home "free of charge," the family should at the very least make Airtran pay for return tickets on US Airways as well. And I hope US Airways charges Airtran full fare.
they should have put them on a plane back to Iraq or whatever Muslim looking country they wanted to go to. There they can talk and participate in whatever religious retreat that they choose. After all America is the Anti Christ or Satan himself why would they want to be in this horrible country where they have to suffer such things. There is far more freedom in the countries where their ancestors are from. They must be slaves brought here by the evil white man. Please go home and complain and you flag waivers, put them away.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robinhood
Airtran's initial blame the victim strategy ("people got on and said things that shouldn't have been said") and unwillingness to appropriately rebook or recompense these travelers ("Hutcheson said AirTran is not likely to reimburse the passengers for the additional cost of their replacement tickets on USAirways") is appalling. Their "apology" and subsequent backpedaling in the face of public backlash is too little too late. Instead of letting Airtran fly them home "free of charge," the family should at the very least make Airtran pay for return tickets on US Airways as well. And I hope US Airways charges Airtran full fare.
Airtran offered to pay for the US air tickets and I think that offer was accepted
