2 Fijian Muslims removed from flight: "Flight attendant made safety call"

[Bluebear]

Two Muslim men from Hayward have filed a complaint charging that two airlines removed them from a plane on racial and religious grounds after a flight attendant became nervous about them....

Heading home after visiting relatives in Southern California on Jan. 31, Khan and his father, Fazal Khan, 59, checked in, cleared security and boarded their plane without incident, according to a complaint the men filed last week with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Fazal Khan stayed awake during a one-hour delay at Los Angeles International Airport, while his son alternately read the Quran and slept, according to the complaint. After their SkyWest plane taxied to a runway only to return to the gate, a flight attendant announced the plane was experiencing mechanical problems. A SkyWest representative then boarded the plane and told the Khans to return to the terminal with their carry-on bags, the complaint said....

"The flight attendant made a safety call," SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow said. "We're still investigating. We're gathering details from the crew and other passengers."

The Khans, who are originally from Fiji, wore traditional South Asian attire -- white skull caps, long tunics and loose pants -- during the flight, according to the complaint. They wear their beards long.
The airline representative booked them on a United Airlines flight to San Francisco that departed two hours later. "They were not searched again, they were not asked any questions, nor were there any additional security measures taken."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/23/BAGL1HSOBJ1.DTL&hw=sinnar&sn=001&sc=1000

[Betsy Ross]

1. Their checked luggage, however, was not removed

from the flight.

[Devlzown]

2. It doesn't seem right to me that a flight attendant

can make a call like that. If someone passes the security screening before boarding, that should be enough for him to finish his flight.

[MADem]

4. The flight attendant CAN make the call, and this one made a bad one

apparently. But the FA is responsible for the safety of the passengers in the cabin. They're the ones that have to open the doors, deploy the slides, get everyone out in event of a crash, use the resuscitation equipment if anyone keels over...it ain't just coffee and tea.

And given that they discovered at twenty some odd airports that the equipment to build a bomb onboard the plane and blow the tail off it in flight ESCAPED security, the FA's are all on edge.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060319/NEWS/603190374/1002/NEWS01

WASHINGTON — Despite the multibillion-dollar ramp-up in aviation security since Sept. 11, congressional investigators were able to sneak homemade bomb components past federal screeners at all 21 airports they targeted in a recent covert exercise.

The General Accountability Office conducted the tests between October and January to determine the vulnerability posed by a would-be suicide bomber carrying easily purchased materials that could be assembled into a bomb once past security.

The GAO findings, first reported by NBC News, are classified, and the airports' identities were not disclosed. The GAO refused to comment Friday on any aspect of its report.

The head of the Transportation Security Administration, which oversees nearly 43,000 screeners at 429 commercial airports, didn't quarrel with the GAO analysis — and in fact termed it helpful as his agency focuses on its top mission: intercepting improvised explosive devices....

[DRoseDARs]

3. Someone posted a thread on this... some weeks ago. Even then it was old..

...though I didn't realize the incident happened on Jan. 31st. When I saw the other thread it apparently was already several weeks after-the-fact. What the hell is with these johny-come-lately articles *cough* lately? :shrug:

[Bluebear]

5. No idea. This article is from 3/23

and this was the first I heard of it.

[Dunvegan]

6. This is Fijian dress...

...not Middle Eastern.

Anyone for giving an international traditional dress sensitivity lesson to flight attendants?

And, if we remember, the 911 hijackers were all clean shaven and wearing Western clothing.

As was Timothy McVey.