WASHINGTON – Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security.
AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident on the New Year's Day flight from Reagan National Airport to Orlando, Fla., a misunderstanding, but defended the company's response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong.
One of the Muslim passengers, Kashif Irfan, told The Washington Post the confusion began when his brother was talking about the safest place to sit on an airplane.
"My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security," Irfan said. "The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.'"
Irfan told the newspaper he thought he and the others were profiled because of their appearance. The men had beards and the women wore headscarves, traditional Muslim attire.
Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist and his brother is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria, Va., with their families, and were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Irfan's sister-in-law and Irfan's three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2. A family friend also was traveling with the group to a religious retreat in Florida.
Federal officials ordered the rest of the passengers from the plane and re-screened them before allowing the flight to depart.
The family was upset that AirTran didn't allow the Muslim passengers to book another flight. They eventually made it to their destination on a US Airways flight.
"The FBI agents actually cleared our names," Inayet Sahin, one of the family members kicked off the flight, told CNN. "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused."
Hutcheson said the passengers were given a full refund and are welcome to fly on AirTran now that the investigation is complete.
Hutcheson and a federal Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said the pilot was right to postpone the flight.
"At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them," Hutcheson said. "Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions."
One of the passengers removed, Abdur Razack Aziz, said he will consider a lawsuit.
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They shouldn't have been discussing airport security anyways, what did they expect to happen.
I agree. In a perfect world, people should be able to make flippant remarks without fear of someone "reporting" it. But, since 9/11, I think over-reacting may be the best thing. You just can't take chances.
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Wow, the jets are right next to my window.
If I hear this on a plane -- especially from an adult -- I cringe in horror. I know right then it's somebody's first flight ever and I'm going to have to hear about it the whole trip because I forgot to charge my ipod once again.
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ok thats the 9 passengers drummed down version of whatever they were discussing. Im figuring they left out the more suspicious security related remarks at the advice of their ambulance chasing attorney. While its unfortunate these 9 found innocent people were interupted, thats life but Im sure they and the media will make a bunch of hay out of it for days and weeks. 1000s of drivers across the country are wrongly profiled by police and stopped everyday on suspicion of being intoxicated. When stopped most are just tired, reading a book while driving, or screwing off on a cell phone. To me being removed from a flight is no different. If you are going to act a certain way, say certain things, wear certain things, and draw attention on an aircraft then at some point you have more strikes on the scorecard than balls its the government and airlines duty to react at that point. It is good in another aspect as well. It reminds the terrorists we are still paying attention
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Originally Posted by CDKing
They shouldn't have been discussing airport security anyways, what did they expect to happen.
WHAT ?
Silly me; I thought I lived in a FREE country, with my freedom guaranteed by a consititution.
So now the security Nazis think that people shouldn't be allowed to have inoccous conversations about how close the other planes are at the terminal ?
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.
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Originally Posted by ANC
. 1000s of drivers across the country are wrongly profiled by police and stopped everyday on suspicion of being intoxicated. When stopped most are just tired, reading a book while driving, or screwing off on a cell phone. To me being removed from a flight is no different.
Um, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to be reading a book while driving.
My guess is someone heard the comment, thought OH NOES TEH MUSLIM TERRORISTS ARE BLOWING US UP!11!!!!, and it got thoroughly racist, paranoid, upset and out of hand very quickly.
However, it was probably also a good idea to not accommodate those passengers on that flight- being cooped up for hours in a narrow metal tube with people who thought I was a criminal and turned me into the FBI for nothing is not how I'd want to spend my flight, plus I imagine tempers got heated up.
Hutcheson said AirTran is not likely to reimburse the passengers for the additional cost of their replacement tickets on USAirways. He said they were given a full refund for their AirTran fares and may fly on the carrier now that the investigation is complete.
The detained passengers said that is not likely.
Really, you think? Seriously- why would an Airtran employee think passengers would want to risk that kind of experience on their airline again?
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Jan 2, 09 at 1:15 pm.
Hutcheson said AirTran is not likely to reimburse the passengers for the additional cost of their replacement tickets on USAirways. He said they were given a full refund for their AirTran fares and may fly on the carrier now that the investigation is complete.
The detained passengers said that is not likely.
Really, you think? Seriously- why would an Airtran employee think passengers would want to risk that kind of experience on their airline again?
I actually had a problem with that aspect of the whole article and found it profoundly ridiculous. I also think AirTrans should pay the US Airways bill as a courtesy. I stand by my idea though that these kinds of situations are better off being dealt with and figured out rather than overlooked and shrugged off. Like I said there was probably more said than we are aware of at this time. The article was vague as to what they were discussing. Could it be possible they were discussing the security in great detail as to raise red flags? Although in my opinion someone who actually plans harm isnt going to discuss it. If they pulled 9 non muslims off the aircraft it would be a non issue to most people but since it was 9 muslims people make a prejudice issue of it
They shouldn't have been discussing airport security anyways, what did they expect to happen.
Even if that is what was discussed, why not? The United States of America is still a free country and there is no fascist government rule that says that discussing airport security is grounds for being involuntarily denied paid travel.
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According to other news reports the FBI cleared them to reboard the plane. They were fairly complementary of the LEOs involved. I don't know what ATA's beef was. Two of the pax are attorneys, specifically one of them is federal attorney for the Library of Congress.
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If they pulled 9 non muslims off the aircraft it would be a non issue to most people but since it was 9 muslims people make a prejudice issue of it
First, a fairly innocuous comment that's misunderstood is unlikely to freak the other passengers out the same way when it's coming from a non-Muslim passenger, for obvious reasons, and second, yeah, it would suck if airline security was way hypersensitive.
According to other news reports the FBI cleared them to reboard the plane. They were fairly complementary of the LEOs involved. I don't know what ATA's beef was. Two of the pax are attorneys, specifically one of them is federal attorney for the Library of Congress.
As Homer Simpson would say: "Doh!"
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
I agree. In a perfect world, people should be able to make flippant remarks without fear of someone "reporting" it. But, since 9/11, I think over-reacting may be the best thing. You just can't take chances.
yeah you're right...we should just start reporting everything we see involving people with darker skin and women who wear headdresses...you can never be too sure. (if you don't sense the sarcasm, then you are truly king of the bigots)
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