Nine Muslim Passengers Removed From Airplane...**UPDATE PG. 6** Apology from AirTran

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doublejs07

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[h1]9 Muslim passengers removed from jet[/h1] [h2]Flight postponed after other travelers overhear 'suspicious' remark[/h2]
WASHINGTON - Officials ordered nine Muslim passengers, including three young children, off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando from Reagan National Airport yesterday afternoon after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a suspicious remark.
Members of the party, all but one of them U.S.-born citizens who were headed to a religious retreat in Florida, were subsequently cleared for travel by FBI agents who characterized the incident as a misunderstanding, an airport official said. But the passengers said AirTran refused to rebook them, and they had to pay for seats on another carrier secured with help from the FBI.

Kashif Irfan, one of the removed passengers, said the incident began about 1 p.m. after his brother, Atif, and his brother's wife wondered aloud about the safest place to sit on an airplane.

"My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security," Irfan said. "The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.' I think they were remarking about safety."

Irfan said he and the others think they were profiled because of their appearance. He said five of the six adults in the party are of South Asian descent, and all six are traditionally Muslim in appearance, with the men wearing beards and the women in headscarves. Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist. His brother, 29, is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria with their families, and both were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Kashif Irfan's sister-in-law, a friend and Kashif Irfan's three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2.

'Precautions'
AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson agreed that the incident amounted to a misunderstanding. But he defended AirTran's handling of the incident, which he said strictly followed federal rules. And he denied any wrongdoing on the airline's part.

"At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them," Hutcheson said. "Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions."

Hutcheson confirmed that it was ultimately the pilot's decision to postpone the flight. But he said the pilot was influenced not only by the complaints from passengers but by the actions of two federal air marshals on board, who had learned of the incident and reported it to airport police.

As a result of that report, federal officials made the decision to order all 104 passengers from the plane and re-screen them and their luggage before allowing the flight to take off for Orlando - two hours late and without the nine passengers.

Ellen Howe, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the pilot acted appropriately.

"For us, it just highlights that security is everybody's responsibility," Howe said. "Someone heard something that was inappropriate, and then the airline decided to act on it. We certainly support [the pilot's] call to do that.


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I just finished reading about that. I really hope the passengers pursue a civil suit, no other race would have been apprehended for remarks like those.
 
jimmybeanz wrote:
i read about that. very unfortunate.



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Not surprised....



We're not wanted anywhere now a days....


Except maybe 6 feet deep...
 
i dont think terrorists would make it that obvious, you're gonna be in the air before you figure out who's who
 
If they weren't Muslim, I wonder if the "suspicious" remark would have been reported? People were probably just grilling them for no reason, andforced themselves to believe that they heard a comment that wasn't said. It's like a "Crash" moment
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Unfortunate...but, I don't think acivil suit will happen, because the airlines can always say that they took proper measures in this type of situation...it just so happened that the passengerswere Muslim. Not saying I agree, and I don't...but, it's just how people are being viewed post 9/11.
 
Originally Posted by Dirtylicious

made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane
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which were?
As they were walking to there seat they were talking about where the safest place to sit on a plane would be. Cockpit, by the wing, in the back,etc.

Based on that, OK, fine investigate the situation. After investigation, the FBI cleared them and even contacted the airline asking for them to let them fly.

The airline is refusing to let them fly again.
 
I saw it on the news. That's unfortunate, and I wish people would just get over all of these petty %#* differences. No matter how you flip it, it'sracist. If this were a white American family, I'm almost 100% sure it wouldnt have happened to them. And OP, the way you titled this post made it look likethere were Muslum passangers removed from JET (magazine). Chill on the caps.
 
Originally Posted by ATLien Seeko

I saw it on the news. That's unfortunate, and I wish people would just get over all of these petty %#* differences. No matter how you flip it, it's racist. If this were a white American family, I'm almost 100% sure it wouldnt have happened to them. And OP, the way you titled this post made it look like there were Muslum passangers removed from JET (magazine). Chill on the caps.
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exactly.
 
Originally Posted by Mo Matik

Dirtylicious wrote:
made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
which were?
As they were walking to there seat they were talking about where the safest place to sit on a plane would be. Cockpit, by the wing, in the back, etc.

Based on that, OK, fine investigate the situation. After investigation, the FBI cleared them and even contacted the airline asking for them to let them fly.

The airline is refusing to let them fly again.
im in the DMV so i saw this on the news last night and the lady stated that she said, "where do you think the best place to sit on the planeif a bomb went off"

first off its stupid to say this like why would it even be a convo? but what blew me even more was that they got cleared but then they got in line to get onanother plane and one of them starts talking about the Oklahoma City bomber.

I mean come on are they ******ed? Then they are going to say they were discriminated against? That's bs they didn't have common sense and anyonetalking about bombs in an airport would get in trouble. I thought that was common sense.
 
"My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security," Irfan said. "The only thing my brother said was, 'Wow, the jets are right next to my window.' I think they were remarking about safety."
Please, I wonder about that every time I get on a plane, it is clear that this was a profiling.
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Originally Posted by Mr Anleu

Originally Posted by Mo Matik

Dirtylicious wrote:
made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
which were?
Click to expand...
As they were walking to there seat they were talking about where the safest place to sit on a plane would be. Cockpit, by the wing, in the back, etc.

Based on that, OK, fine investigate the situation. After investigation, the FBI cleared them and even contacted the airline asking for them to let them fly.

The airline is refusing to let them fly again.
im in the DMV so i saw this on the news last night and the lady stated that she said, "where do you think the best place to sit on the plane if a bomb went off"

first off its stupid to say this like why would it even be a convo? but what blew me even more was that they got cleared but then they got in line to get on another plane and one of them starts talking about the Oklahoma City bomber.

I mean come on are they ******ed? Then they are going to say they were discriminated against? That's bs they didn't have common sense and anyone talking about bombs in an airport would get in trouble. I thought that was common sense.




Can you find any report of that dude?

I'm not calling you a liar, but I just find it hard to believe.

I would think information as significant as that would be included in the CNN report.

The father of the family is an attorney, I can't believe that he would let his family say stupid stuff like that on a plane and in an airport.
 
i do think they were looked at more closely because they were muslim BUT i think they would have been investigated even ifthey werent. I mean why would anyone be discussing something like this at an airport? Personally if i overheard this convo i would have reported it tooregardless of where they were from. You just can't be too careful these days cuz anyone can have bad intentions.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/my...ode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

A source close to the investigation says Sobia was overheard talking about the safest place to sit on a plane if a bomb was on board. An Airtran spokesman says what was allegedly heard by other passengers was enough to remove the entire Irfan family from the plane.
A source told FOX 5 the Irfans were not allowed on another Airtran plane because while at the gate trying to re-book their flight, someone in the family mentioned
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htownhooper31 wrote:
I just finished reading about that. I really hope the passengers pursue a civil suit, no other race would have been apprehended for remarks like those.
Muslim is not a race Idiot.There's black, white, Arab Muslims.
And to the guy who said "this wouldn't of happened to Americans" they where born in detroit. You people need to get your facts straight beforeyou can cry "racism".
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Originally Posted by BuzzKillington

htownhooper31 wrote:
I just finished reading about that. I really hope the passengers pursue a civil suit, no other race would have been apprehended for remarks like those.
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Muslim is not a race Idiot.There's black, white, Arab Muslims.
And to the guy who said "this wouldn't of happened to Americans" they where born in detroit. You people need to get your facts straight before you can cry "racism".


SEMANTICS....no need to call anyone an idiot...you act like you ain't know whatthey meant...racist/prejudice...end result still the same to me

and Mr. Anleu, nice edit.....it's all he said she said...I highly doubt they were mentioning theword bomb anywhere in that situation....and if they did, it wasn't in that context...Airtrain *@#+$! up, simple as that....one of the WORST airlines I haveever flown on...never again
 
Thats DEFINETELY racist, I dont care what anyone says. If a white american had said any of this, no one would have cared, but hey were Muslim so theymust be terrorists, right?

And how he says airport security works, thats gotta be a lame attempt at a joke. The security in airports is a joke. Ive walked through the dam metal detectorswith my ipod and phone before without the alarm on it beeping. They never knew I had it on me. Plus theres constantly people who forget knives or scissors etc.in their bags and are able to bring it on board. Airport security is only there for peace of mind. They dont find everything, its just emotional reassurancefor all the naive people in the world.
 
Originally Posted by htownhooper31

I just finished reading about that. I really hope the passengers pursue a civil suit, no other race would have been apprehended for remarks like those.
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Trust me, nowadays NOBODY is going to be crazy enough to try and hijack a Plane. And if somehow they are crazy enough to try, [Jay-Z]ehhhh.....godbless[/Jay-Z]
 
If this were a white American family, I'm almost 100% sure it wouldnt have happened to them


You are 100% wrong. Good friend of mine was removed from a plane and held in custody at JFK for 6 hours after making a comment like this, and this was before9/11. A bag was left on the plane after deboarding and the stewardess asked my friend, who happened to be sitting on the seat, if there was a name on the bag. He said the nametag read "A. Bomb", they wasted no time in removing him from the plane and holding him in custody.
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i'm sure they were all of different races and ethnicities
and Mr. Anleu, nice edit.....it's all he said she said...I highly doubt they were mentioning the word bomb anywhere in that situation....and if they did, it wasn't in that context...Airtrain *@#+$! up, simple as that....one of the WORST airlines I have ever flown on...never again




they were the girl said she mentioned the word bomb when fox 5 interviewed her

last thing i wanted to point out for all yall claiming discrimination.

The airline says the 95 other passengers on the original flight and all of their luggage had to be taken off the plane and re-screened. The Irfan family was eventually booked on a U.S. Airways flight on New Year's night, and off to a spiritual retreat in
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