AirTran apologizes to Muslim family removed from plane

Just to follow up on my posting from January 2nd at 4:15pm:

AirTran Airways finally did the right thing and apologized Friday to members of a Muslim family for kicking them off a plane and refusing to rebook them despite requests from FBI agents who had
cleared them of wrongdoing.

The families of Atif Irfan, a tax attorney, and his brother Kashif Irfan, an anesthesiologist, were removed from a flight in Washington before takeoff Thursday after a passenger reported hearing Atif Irfan's wife say something suspicious.

The FBI interviewed the family and cleared them of wrongdoing.

"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did," AirTran said in a statement Friday afternoon. "But we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount." (you can read the rest of the statement they issued here)

The airline said it has refunded the family's money and has offered to fly the family home to Washington for free.

One family member, Kashif Irfan, said on Friday that he was "very appreciative and surprised" by AirTran's apology. "It's a very generous gesture," he said.

The statement by Air Trans was an abrupt about-face for the airline, which only three hours earlier had issued a press release with an unapologetic description of the incident.

In that statement, the airline said it did not re-book the family only because the security concern had not been resolved, and because one member of the group "became irate and made inappropriate comments."

That account of the incident differed from accounts from the family and the FBI.
The FBI said agents interviewed the family, resolved the security concerns and then tried to help re-schedule the flight with the airline. The FBI ultimately helped the family book a flight on US Airways.

The dispute erupted at approximately 1 p.m. Thursday, as Atif Irfan and his brother Kashif Irfan boarded AirTran flight 175 at Reagan National Airport near Washington for a trip to Orlando, Florida. They were accompanied by their wives, a sister and three young children.

Federal officials say a passenger on the plane notified a flight attendant about a suspicious conversation, and the flight attendant notified the pilot and Federal air marshals who were aboard. The pilot asked the air marshals to remove the passengers, said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Christopher White.

"The conversation, as we were walking through the plane trying to find our seats, was just about where the safest place in an airplane is," said Inayet Sahin, Kashif Irfan's wife. "We were [discussing whether it was safest to sit near] the wing, or the engine or the back or the front. But that's it. We didn't say anything else that would raise any suspicion."

The conversation did not contain the words "bomb," "explosion," "terror" or other words that might have aroused suspicion, Atif Irfan said.

"When we were talking, when we turned around, I noticed a couple of girls kind of snapped their heads," said Sobia Ijaz, Atif Irfan's wife. "I kind of thought to myself, 'Oh, you know, maybe they're going to say something.' It didn't occur to me that they were going to make it such a big issue."

Authorities first removed Atif Irfan and Sobia Ijaz, then returned for the rest of the family, including three small children. They also removed a family friend, Abdul Aziz, a Library of Congress attorney who was coincidentally taking the same flight and had been seen talking with the family.

After the FBI interviewed family members, the agency released them, Irfan said.

"The FBI agents actually cleared our names," said Sahin. "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused."

In statements Thursday night and Friday morning, AirTran said it had "complied with all TSA, law enforcement and Homeland Security directives and had no discretion in the matter."

But TSA spokesman White said it was the pilot's decision to remove the family and the airline and pilot had the ultimate authority to decide whether to allow the family back on AirTran flights.

An FBI spokesman confirmed Friday that agents intervened on behalf of the family with AirTran. When AirTran declined to book the family, agents helped them get tickets with US Airways, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said.

"Our agents went way out of their way to make sure this family went on their trip," Kolko said.

After the family and friend were taken for questioning, the remaining 95 passengers, the crew and baggage were removed from the plane and rescreened, AirTran said.

Family members said Friday they had not decided whether to accept AirTran's apology, saying there were a variety of opinions. (My personal opinion? too little too late, I wouldn't take the tickets)

Meanwhile, an Islamic group -- the Council on Islamic American Relations, or CAIR -- filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees airlines.

"We believe this disturbing incident would never have occurred had the Muslim passengers removed from the plane not been perceived by other travelers and airline personnel as members of the Islamic faith," CAIR said in its complaint.

9 Muslim passengers kicked off U.S. flight

Airline offers passengers an official apology

Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight going from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers on the plane reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security.

Despite issuing an official apology to all the passengers on the flight on Friday, the airline has maintained that the steps taken on Thursday were necessary.

"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did on New Year's Day, but we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount and cannot be compromised," said the news release issued by the company.

AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident on the New Year's Day flight from Reagan National Airport to Orlando, Fla., a "misunderstanding", but defended the company's response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong.

One of the Muslim passengers, Kashif Irfan, told the Washington Post the confusion began when his brother was talking 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.' "

Irfan told the newspaper he thought he and the others were profiled because of their appearance.

The men had beards and the women wore headscarves, traditional Muslim attire.

Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist and his brother is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria, Va., with their families and were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Irfan's sister-in-law and Irfan's three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2.

A family friend also was traveling with the group to a religious retreat in Florida.

Federal officials ordered the rest of the passengers off the plane and re-screened them before allowing the flight to depart about two hours behind schedule.

Not allowed on another flight

The family was upset that AirTran Airlines didn't allow the Muslim passengers to book another flight.

The airline said in a news release issued earlier on Friday that one of the passengers became irate, made inappropriate comments and had to be escorted away from a gate desk by local law enforcement.

"The FBI agents actually cleared our names," says Inayet Sahin, one of the family members kicked off the flight, She told CNN "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused."

The family and friend eventually made it to their destination on a US Airways flight.

In the written statement, AirTran said it refunded the airfare for the nine passengers and planned to reimburse them for replacement tickets they bought on another airline.

AirTran also apologized to 95 other passengers on the flight who were delayed because of the incident.

"We apologize to all of the passengers — to the nine who had to undergo extensive interviews from the authorities and to the 95 who ultimately made the flight. Nobody on Flight 175 reached their destination on time on New Year's Day, and we regret it," the written apology said.

Hutcheson said AirTran had initially refused to rebook the family because the airline had not been notified the investigation was complete.

"The passengers are now welcome to fly on AirTran since being cleared by authorities," he said.

"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."

Transport official defends handling of situation

Christopher White, a federal Transportation Security Administration spokesman, said the situation was handled appropriately.

White said the pilot, after being informed of the remarks, requested that two federal air marshals on board remove the individuals.

TSA then alerted authorities, including the FBI, which conducted an investigation. Once authorities determined there was no threat, it was up to the airline whether to allow the family to reboard or not.

"If the pilot is uncomfortable with someone flying on their plane, that's their decision," White said.

A spokesman for the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

One of the passengers removed, Abdur Razack Aziz, said he will consider filing a lawsuit against the airline.

This seems to be like "Life imitating art". The pilot episode "Little Mosque on the Prairie" had the very same (almost exactly identical) situation...

The fact that the family was not allowed back onto a plane even though they were no longer deemed a "threat" is just ridiculous, extremely paranoid and clearly a sign of racist, stereotypical profiling by the airline officials.

The ironic thing about this and similar situations of this manner, is that not a single one of the 9/11 terrorists looked at all out of the ordinary for Western appearance except perhaps being a bit dark skinned. Doesn't it seem weird to think that a terrorist would go on to a plane in such obvious attire as the traditional Muslim dress? Would they not want to dress in "western attire" to NOT draw attention to themselves on the plane if they were terrorists? i'm pretty sure they wouldn't be so stupid as to talk about plane security if they were terrorists either, on the contrary, they'd probably stay really silent until they were "ready to act".

The FBI had cleared them and attempted to have the airline fly them to their destination.

Before anyone states the obvious about mistakes happening...I know that misunderstandings can and do occur. However, the fact that this family of Muslims was neither allowed to return to the plane nor rebook their tickets with the same airline, even though it was determined without a doubt that they were no threat whatsoever, should raise some major alarm bells. This was more than a legitimate security concern; it was racist, stereotypical profiling (and I don't think that the airline has officially apologized to the family involved either, maybe to the other people on the plane, but I don't think they've officially apologized for there mistake to the family). Come on, even federal officials were convinced that these individuals were no threat and actually asked the airline to let them back onto the plane, but to no avail. This kind of action breeds anger and resentment and in a worst case scenario might actually push some frustrated Muslims into the clutches of the terrorists. Do we really want that to happen? do we???
Airport and border security is pure madness these days. A single shoe bomber results in billions of us taking off our shoes every time we want to get on an airline now. A single goo bomber means billions more can no longer bring toiletries on the plane with us (but we can put them in the hatch).

Throw in the x-ray machines, sniffing dogs and machines, intrusive searches (bodies, luggage, computers), machines that show you naked, having to get there two hours early, being reported in advance to security agencies, no-fly lists, criminal records (where you've paid your dues) that still prohibit you from traveling abroad....Sheer and utter MADNESS.

I wish them luck in there lawsuit against the airline, if it were me, I would include EVERYONE on the airline that said ANYTHING or was in ANY way involved in me being taken off the plane, and being kept off...but that's just me...

Is this the sort of world we now live in? what its now come to?