A Muslim woman says she was removed from an American Airlines flight because a white passenger felt "uncomfortable."
Per The Independent, 28-year-old Muslim Girl founder and blogger Amani Al-Khatahtbeh took to Twitter on Saturday, November 14, to share the story of how a man took exception to her after a tense interaction while they were standing in line for airport security.
Writing to her 29,300 followers, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted:
"I had the craziest experience in TSA this morning. An entitled white man behind me insisted on cutting me in line because I was 'still taking my shoes off.' When I said he could wait like everyone else, he started going off about how he’s 'pre check and 'first class.'
"He then proceeded to not only shove his things before mine but then RUN THROUGH THE MACHINE and TSA did NOTHING! Not only did they not do anything, a TSA officer had the audacity to tell ME to 'cut it out.' [sic]"
"Y’all know if I, a VEILED MUSLIM WOMAN, had the audacity to throw a temper tantrum and run through TSA security, I would have gotten BODIED. I would have been detained, missed my flight, possibly gotten charged, etc. [sic]"
In a follow-up post, Al-Khatahtbeh tweeted that the man in question had complained about her to an airline agent, and then shared a clip that appeared to show a man wearing an American Airlines yellow high-vis vest attempting to remove her from the flight.
In the video the man can be heard stating: "The captain asked me, as a manager, for me to remove you from the aircraft because there's a passenger on board who doesn't feel comfortable with you being here."
Per Insider, Nihad Awad (National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations) commented on the incident by stating:
"Although we do not yet know all of the facts about this incident, we do know that American Airlines has a history of mistreating Muslim travelers.
"The airline must immediately explain why it singled out Amani by contacting the police and ejecting her from a flight based on the word of a man who had allegedly harassed her."
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Meanwhile, an American Airlines spokesperson told Insider: "We are working with local law enforcement and have requested video footage from Terminal A and security."
"We take this issue seriously and our team is working as fast as possible to understand what occurred. We have reached out to CAIR NJ to brief them on our investigation."
