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Brooklyn Muslims & Sikh Say They Were Racially Profiled, Kicked Off Flight To NYC
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 18, 2016
Modified Jan 18, 2016
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 18, 2016
Modified Jan 18, 2016
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Four Brooklyn men are suing American Airlines after a flight attendant allegedly kicked them off of their return flight from Toronto in December. According to the suit, the attendant ordered the four friends—three Muslims and a Sikh—to revoke their seats because they were making the flight crew "uneasy."
One of the men, a construction worker identified in the suit as M.K., allegedly asked the attendant if he and his friends had been kicked off because of their appearance. According to the suit, she replied that it "did not help."
The flight was operated by Republic Airlines, a regional company under the American Airlines banner.
In an interview with the Daily News, an attorney representing the men explained that the group was approached soon after boarding, when Shan Anand and Faimul Alam switched seats with fellow passengers in order to sit near their friends. Prior to boarding, Alam and Anand had paid a $75 change fee to take the same flight as the rest of their group, which numbered six in all.
M.K. and another friend, a fashion designer identified in the suit as W.H., had both paid $70 upgrades to business class. Apparently, the flight crew was so unsettled by this seat shifting that they ordered them off of the plane.
"She [the flight attendant] said the stewardess and the captain felt uneasy with us being on the flight," W.H. told the News. "She said there were inconsistencies of our behavior traveling as a group because two of us upgraded and two of us didn't."
Their two other companions, Hispanic and Pakistani respectively, were not kicked off of the flight but were told to "just be peaceful," according to attorney Tahanie Aboushi. Aboushi said that this language suggests that these men, also, were considered a threat.
The four men ultimately returned to LaGuardia on the flight Anand and Alam had originally booked, with the same airline. Each of them is seeking $6 million in damages.
Speaking with Gothamist this morning, Aboushi said that the airline's decision to put the men on the next flight was particularly unusual.
"What usually happens with these cases, is that law enforcement comes on board and takes statements. Just putting these men on the next flight… the way it went down, if it were a legitimate security threat it would not have gone down the way it did," she said.
"These young gentlemen cleared TSA, and then the captain of the flight made a personal observation," she added. "It was very capricious and arbitrary."
"We have not received the lawsuit yet, thus we cannot comment," American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said in a statement.
In December, a Virgin Airlines crew barred Texas lawyer Bobby Abtahi from his flight to Dallas, allegedly because they did not feel "comfortable" having him on board. The airline later apologized, calling the incident a "misunderstanding."
Tagged
american airlines
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Emma Whitford
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