This is certainly a form of BLATANT discrimination. Unless someone is doing something illegal or endangering the safety of other passengers or flight crew, there is no logical reason that someone should be escorted off a flight merely because another passenger had a whimsical "bad feeling."
Should I have this same "bad feeling" whenever a grossly overweight person sits next to me in Coach? Or when a mother with a crying kid kicks the back of my seat?
If it is really necessary to detain a person on the whim of a passenger, the whole flight should be detained while the person is "re-screened" and briefly interviewed by a security officer and then allowed to reboard otherwise it will lead to people abusing the system.
I lived in Oregon for over 30 years and now live in Los Angeles. It is unfortunate that there are so many xenophobic people living in Oregon because it is such a beautiful state with many very caring and intelligent people. This has also been an on-going problem with INS officers working at the Portland airport. Foreign tourists have complained bitterly to the U.S. State Department that they are harassed by PDX INS agents (highest % of complaints of any airport).
Although I dont know the particulars about this incident it sure rubs me the wrong way. The Port of Portland and Alaska Airlines are doing themselves a huge disfavor by telling international visitors and foreign-born nationals to stay away!
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Law Lord:
The Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting is the largest of its kind, drawing 25,000 of the world's brain biologists. Among them, Thanos Tzounopoulos of Portland who in a black suit, got to the airport two hours early Sunday to travel.
The neuroscientist and assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University checked in, used the restroom, called his wife twice and then sat in Portland International Airport reading scientific papers for more than an hour until Flight 572 to San Diego was called.
He was in Seat 19C, the meeting agenda on his lap, awaiting the 2:41 p.m. takeoff when a ground-based Alaska Airlines employee boarded and asked him to step outside.
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Jim Wilkins