Detained AirTran Passengers Feel Profiled
9 Muslim Passengers Pulled From AirTran Flight Amid Complaints
updated 2:48 p.m. ET Jan. 2, 2009
A group of passengers headed to Orlando were escorted off their plane and questioned by the FBI on New Year’s Day.
The nine people are all Muslim and claim to be victims of racial profiling.
The group was removed right before AirTran flight 175 was about to take off from Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C.
Their removal was the result of complaints from other passengers regarding comments they overheard after boarding.
Atif Irfan was one of the passengers who was removed.
"In that conversation we started talking a little bit about airplane safety and where the safest place to sit is on a plane in case of an accident, or in case something happened, and I guess from that conversation someone must have gleaned that maybe we were planning on doing something from the plane," Irfan said.
According to a statement from AirTran, the captain informed the airline that two federal air marshals contacted law enforcement for a security-related issue involving comments made by a passenger. AirTran said nine passengers were detained, questioned and eventually cleared by the FBI, but they were not allowed back on board their flight.
The statement also said the crew followed federal guidelines implemented by the Transportation Security Administration.
"It’s not like we used any words like, 'terrorist,' or, 'bomb,' or anything like that," Irfan said. "Simply people was to hear what they want to hear sometimes."
Soon after being cleared, the FBI helped the travelers find other flights on another airline.
Some of them feel they were victims of racial profiling.
"Even after the FBI agent and the special agent went to them and explained to them that there’s absolutely nothing wrong, we’re clear, completely safe, they wouldn’t issue us any sort of apology," detained passenger Abdul Aziz said.
The detained passengers received refunds for the tickets and were told they could fly on AirTran flights in the future. The flight was delayed for about two hours.
Bron
