Muslims removed from plane because flight attendant was uncomfortable

[Kadie]

Article Last Updated: 03/18/2006 4:29 AM PST

Muslims allege flight discrimination
Hayward father, son say they were kicked off plane because of their attire
By Matt O'Brien, STAFF WRITER


snip...
Fazal Khan, 59, and his son, Mohammed Khan, 28, boarded a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Oakland on Jan. 31 wearing traditional South Asian tunics, white skullcaps and loose trousers. Both men also have long beards.

Before takeoff, attendants asked the Khans to vacate their seats and escorted them back to the terminal, said their lawyer, Shirin Sinnar of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco.

"They were essentially told, 'You can't take this flight because the flight attendant is uncomfortable,'" Sinnar said.

snip...
An airline customer service representative walked onto the plane and asked the Khans to bring their carry-on handbags with them and return to the airport terminal, Sinnar said.

After escorting them out, the representative was "sympathetic" but said they could not return because the flight attendant was not comfortable with them on board, Sinnar said. With their check-in luggage still in the aircraft's cargo hold, the Khans were booked on a separate flight going to San Francisco International Airport a few hours later.

"The strange thing is no one took the bags off the first flight," Sinnar said. "If there was any thought they were a security risk, certainly their bags should have been removed."

more...
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_3616093?source=rss

[NMDemDist2]

1. what a bunch of crap K&N n/t

[Katherine Brengle]

2. One note about luggage--

while it makes sense that the luggage should have been removed, their bags would not have necessarily even been on the same flight. It is a fairly common practice for luggage to be shipped separately from its owners, depending on the availability of cargo space and space available on other flights to the same destination.

[IsIt1984Yet]

16. But, if a passenger exits a flight, the luggage should go with them?

I was on a flight once... years ago (mid-80's) on which Louis Farrakhan was on board. One passenger who saw him after boarding plane got pissed off and walked off plane, stating that he refused to fly in a plane on which Farrakhan was boarded. His luggage had been placed in cargo already and our flight was delayed significantly so that they could find the luggage of the pissed off passenger who walked and remove it.

Maybe it's different if a passenger leaves flight on their own will and accord vs. the will of the airline?? :shrug:

[FormerRepublican]

3. That's just plain weird. If the security concerns were legit, why not...

...remove the bags?

Lord, with all the innocent people on the no-fly lists, if these guys had ANYTHING in their background that was shady, they would have showed up there...

[Drum]

4. O, um, Miss/Sir...?

GTFOI: get the f$&# over it (your "discomfort.") None of you are final barometers, ultimate tests of airline security. Your biases are not even optional. Of course eyes-open for real dangerous activities IS part of the job, but if you are not comfortable around the clientele, perhaps you should stick with regional flights of pursue something else more insular and homogeneous.


(edit for speeling)

[unblock]

5. couldn't the FLIGHT ATTENDANT have gotten a different flight?

i mean, geez. the flight attendant was clearly the one with the problem, here.

[eleny]

6. They weren't even trying to 'blend in" for pity sakes

Recommended

[Starbucks Anarchist]

9. Exactly.

If you've seen the 9/11 security tapes, the hijackers were dressed in regular American clothing with no headscarves on or any other noticeable attire.

[juliana24]

12. Yeah, what's wrong with "those people" anyway? K&N

[DRoseDARs]

7. The flight attendant should lose their job after this...

Eject the passengers but not their stowed luggage? "Safety concerns" my ass, fucking bigot. :thumbsdown:

[beam me up scottie]

8. Recommended.

I can't wait to hear the freepers at work try to justify this.:sarcasm:

[FormerRepublican]

11. Heck, back in my bad ol' days posting on Free Republic....

...I got in a flame war because I thought ALL Muslims in the US shouldn't be shipped away to detention camps. Their reasoning was that the religion teaches jihad, so no Muslim could be anything except a terrorist, so they ALL belonged in camps. My reasoning was the obvious.

:puke:

[beam me up scottie]

13. I'm glad you made it to the other side safely.

They don't care too much for defectors.

I realize that many people still base their worldviews on archaic religious dogma, but that doesn't make it any more palatable.

[SeattleGirl]

10. Hmmmm, guilty by reason of apparel

These people made it through security, their luggage made it through (and was left on the plane), yet because the flight attendant was "uncomfortable" with them because of how they were dressed, they were REMOVED from the flight?

What's next? Men with visible tatoos removed because they might be a gang member?

Women with long fingernails wearing red polish removed because they might be high priced call girls?

Stupid questions, yes. Quite fitting for the stupidity of what the flight attendant did to those two men.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. anyone not wearing a crucifix and an American Flag - clear signs of terror

Bastards. But, I repeate myself all too often these days.

[eomer]

15. You can fly only if you're a religious virgin.

I'm not sure if you need to have been savagely raped and sodomized.

[SaveAmerica]

17. Yet no one was uncomfortable with the bomb materials that got

through last week. This is what brainwashing looks like.

[havocmom]

19. DING DING DING we have our winner!

Is it possible this story is just a media changing the subject from what really does matter?

[salin]

20. I missed that particular story

more info please?

[SaveAmerica]

26. It was in the news the other night, here's the link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11863165/

few paragraphs;

Lisa Myers
Senior investigative correspondent

WASHINGTON - Imagine an explosion strong enough to blow a car's trunk apart, caused by a bomb inside a passenger plane. Government sources tell NBC News that federal investigators recently were able to carry materials needed to make a similar homemade bomb through security screening at 21 airports.

In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through. Even when investigators deliberately triggered extra screening of bags, no one discovered the materials.
...
Investigators for the Government Accountability Office conducted the tests between October and January, at the request of Congress. The goal was to determine how vulnerable U.S. airlines are to a suicide bomber using cheap, readily available materials.

[salin]

27. yikes... thanks.

Does rather point to the inane tendency for folks to be more concerned about things that are less worrisome and somehow be unfazed/aware of the things that should make the ears prick up.

[converted_democrat]

18. Unreal.. n/t

[kittenpants]

21. that makes me so sick--clearly the flight attendant had the problem,

not them!

[Glimmer of Hope]

22. How does a flight attendant have this kind of power?

Does United have a policy that allows flight attendants to kick off passengers because they are "uncomfortable?" United needs to fire the flight attendant and/or change their policy. This is unacceptable. I feel so bad for those passengers.

[BlooInBloo]

23. Good thing we have gw telling us not to be anti-islam....

... by getting that Dubai Ports deal thru...

[Ice4Clark]

24. Guess the attendant better find another line of work as

once Pakistan owns one of our airlines, they may be flying the planes.

[spanone]

25. Democracy 101 bites the dust.

[Tom Joad]

28. Can we remove anyone in a suit reading "Wall Street Journal"?

I never do feel "comfortable" with such people.

[Disturbed]

29. That flight attendent and her boss are going to cost..

their airline losts of money. Law suit time from the travelers.

[Tom Joad]

30. Does a muslim have rights in Bush's America?