A UC Berkley student and an Iraqi refugee said he was denied service on a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this month after he was overheard speaking Arabic in the plane waiting for it to take off, the Daily Californian reported.
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi said he was talking to his uncle when he ended his conversation with, “inshallah,” which means “if God is willing.” He said he noticed a woman was staring at him and when they made eye contact, she left her seat.
“Then I realized what was happening and I just was thinking ‘I hope she’s not reporting me,’” Makhzoomi told the student newspaper.
An airport employee removed him from the plane and he met with several security officers and the FBI. Makhzoomi received a refund for his flight after an officer told him Southwest would not fly him.
Southwest Airlines told Gawker in a statement that its crew decided to investigate a “report of potentially threatening comments overheard onboard our aircraft.”
“To respect the privacy of those involved, we will not publicly share any further specifics of the event. We prefer to communicate directly with our Customers to address concerns and feedback regarding their travel experience,” the airline wrote in its statement.
jw1
This is so totally unacceptable. So, security checked him over, realized he was not at all a threat – and they STILL wouldn’t fly him to his destination? Seriously? WTF?? How is this even legal? I understand if a flight attendant has strong suspicion of something, then there are reasonable grounds for action – but just because someone spoke Arabic? Again, WTF?? This is totally unreasonable.
According to the article, “The airline gave him a refund and put him on another flight hours later.”
It’s mostly unacceptable because of the way TPM wrote it up.
Thank you! Yeah, that was a sensationalist way to do it. I’m disappointed in that. I want the all the truth – not half of it. Thank you, @frankly_my_dear.
Still it must have been a harrowing experience for him. Imagine escaping Saddam’s Iraq and winding up in Trump’s America.