Nine Muslims kicked off AirTran flight
posted at 2:00 pm on January 2, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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AirTran may face a lawsuit after denying nine Muslims the chance to fly after an overhead remark from one forced the pilot to delay the flight and rescreen the passengers. The airline apparently refused to rebook the passengers even after being cleared by the FBI, at least according to one of the nine:
Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security.
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.
AirTran said that one of the nine made an “inappropriate comment,” which led to the rescreening. At least in the AP report, their version of the remark has not been revealed. The family’s version appears so innocuous that it seems unlikely that it alone would have caused a delay and rescreening. “Discussing some aspects of airport security” sounds like much more was said than just the proximity of jets to a window.
The family eventually made it to their religious retreat in Florida on US Airways after getting a full refund from AirTran, but that won’t stop the lawsuit. We can expect CAIR to land on this incident with a full complement of attorneys, just as they did here in Minneapolis in more egregious circumstances. The tipster in this case better get an attorney as well, as CAIR will assuredly target whoever reported the remarks just as they did with the Flying Imams.
Update: Corrected AirTran name in the headline.
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Your peanut anaolgy has been made into peanut butter. Which I assume your head is right now, creamy not chuncky.
Have a great day!
upinak on January 2, 2009 at 8:17 PM
Yes, to a degree I have been sheltered. I have traveled to Brazil on many occasions. There isn’t harshness to infidel there but I have seen bad conditions.
I’m not ignorant of the evil caused by Islam. I’ll say this again because you may have missed it. I have argued against Islam as a wicked belief system but I have never argued against Muslims as a people and have never defended them until today.
shick on January 2, 2009 at 8:17 PM
Dark is ASKING where you live? Is that so hard to answer? Or are you going to be a toxic peanut?
upinak on January 2, 2009 at 8:18 PM
Wishful dreaming. It has not :P
shick on January 2, 2009 at 8:19 PM
Answer the question, ya shell of a man.
upinak on January 2, 2009 at 8:19 PM
Patience is a virtue. I just started commenting again.
shick on January 2, 2009 at 8:20 PM
No you haven’t…. and she asked 3 hours ago.
Dodging the peanut …. hmmmmmm.
upinak on January 2, 2009 at 8:21 PM
They probably said something like “We’re gonna kill all the Jews on this plane” which was later reported as “Gee, you can see the engines from the window.” Makes perfect sense to me. I mean why would anybody have a problem with killing Jews. That’s not even reported. It’s only reported when Jews fight back.
With every Muslim that immigrates to our country our freedoms diminish.
Mojave Mark on January 2, 2009 at 8:23 PM
Would it kill you for some Juice?
**Mass Hysteria**
upinak on January 2, 2009 at 8:25 PM
In the interview I mentioned on page 2 of the comments with Robert Spencer about his book Stealth Jihad, he also said this:
INC on January 2, 2009 at 8:30 PM
I’ve got it now, I can follow your logic I think. So people in general are comparable to peanuts, and Muslims to a kind of peanut which is frequently moldy. Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists (and agnostics I suppose) are groups which are peanuts, but much less frequently moldy. I guess we agree.
Just remember, don’t eat the moldy peanuts. In the light of day you’d be able to see them clearly enough, but I guess you’ll have to rely on your sense of smell down there in the burrow.
DarkCurrent on January 2, 2009 at 8:31 PM
You’ve been out of the burrow a bit, I stand corrected.
That said, I think you haven’t been outside long enough. I’m 45 and have lived half of my adult life outside the US. I’ve been to Arab countries, I’ve been to Israel. I currently live in China.
Most places I’ve been Muslims are suspect above all other groups. The entire non-Muslim world distrusts Muslims. Generally people are not wary of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians or Jews (with respect to physical danger anyway). They’re all wary of Muslims, because they get a new example of the danger weekly at least.
DarkCurrent on January 2, 2009 at 8:47 PM
I’m a he now ;-)
DarkCurrent on January 2, 2009 at 8:50 PM
If that could somehow be worked into Southwest ads… ;-) – Dark
The guy tries to break into the cockpit, the Passengers begin kickin’ his azz, the narrator says “Wanna get away?”
Tony737 on January 2, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Is it true that when you string them out from the aft doors it helps deflect crosswinds and also lowers the stall speed?
DarkCurrent on January 2, 2009 at 9:02 PM
The pilot is responsible for his plane
and passengers,
so,the pilot was uncomfortable,
his choice,
his plane!
canopfor on January 2, 2009 at 9:57 PM
They should have kicked every freakin’ one of them OFF the flight and drop-kicked them into GITMO!!!!
grtflmark on January 2, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Well – current polls disagree with you statement that “the majority” of Muslims are “peaceful”, unless you consider supporting the rights of Homicide Bombers and execution for Muslims that change religion “peaceful”.
However, and more importantly: ALL Terrorists ARE Muslims!!
grtflmark on January 2, 2009 at 10:05 PM
Um. Yes I did. Prove me wrong. Look at the dates. I responded to posts that arrived one at a time until I saw yours at the top of this page. And I responded to his before you complained. Why are you so obsessed? I expected more from people from the great land of Palin.
shick on January 2, 2009 at 10:41 PM
On the 10:00 news here and I think taken from ABC, so the video is probably online by now, the young father and mother said they were discussing the safest place to sit on a plane, whether it was the middle or the rear; and that it was a passenger who complained about them.
andycanuck on January 3, 2009 at 12:17 AM
Johan Klaus on January 3, 2009 at 2:14 AM
9/11?
Johan Klaus on January 3, 2009 at 2:26 AM
Different time zones, lag is expected.
DarkCurrent on January 3, 2009 at 2:37 AM
Maybe the Saudis and OIC could set up an Islamic airline – for Mohammedans only. And ban Mohammedans from all other flights.
Call it Buraq Air, after Mohammed’s imaginary flying horse that took him to heaven from Jersusalem, despite his living at the time in Mecca/Medina
infidelpride on January 3, 2009 at 3:53 AM
Can you really be this ignorant? Do you really think that all terrorists are Muslim? Timothy McVeigh was a Muslim? The Irish Revolutionary Army is made up of Muslims? John Gotti was a Muslim? The Shinshūkyō who attacked with Sarin gas in Japan were all Muslims?
Mark Jaquith on January 3, 2009 at 5:41 AM
You miss one VERY important point:
the IRA, and probably the Japanese have/had POLITICAL aims, Gotti was a criminal. McVeigh MAY have been recruited by Jihadists, we’ll never know because Janet Reno was in a rush to execute him. It was known that he was a neo-Nazi and that was a philosophy he shared with Muslims.
(It was recently reported that the second best-selling book in Arab countries is “Mein Kampf”, it’s only out-sold by the Koran.)
Fact is, that where Christians believe the ticket to eternal life is faith and trust in Jesus the Christ, (as well as following His teachings), we also believe that GOD’s final judgement will be right. Muslims believe the key to eternal life is to slaughter anyone who doesn’t believe as they do. THEIR CONFIDENCE IN ETERNAL LIFE IS TIED TO THEIR ABILITY TO KILL INFIDELS AND BE THE EXECUTORS OF FINAL JUDGEMENT HERE AND NOW. Their “holy book” demands that slaughter. Muslims are the only group with which I’m familiar that have terrorism as a core of their religious belief system.
oldleprechaun on January 3, 2009 at 9:10 AM
And Ayers.
Johan Klaus on January 3, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Just so muslims reading this thread don’t get the wrong idea. We Americans are not afraid of you. We think you are ignorant stupid people! You are weak savages who want to kill anything that you disagree with and we are going to fight you and we will kick your ass! Deal with it because it’s not going to get any better for you! If you don’t like it here, go back to your home land and live in a cave…
sabbott on January 3, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Wow. You have been around. I am familiar with some cultures mostly from what I have read of them and not because of personal experience.
You are correct in that non-Muslims are wary of Muslims. It is justified. Though I’ll still defend my point that most Muslims are safe. It’s the religion that enslaves the Muslims which in turn is against infidels.
Hinduism is even worse at enslavement. The whole karma, reincarnation, caste system teachers believers that others are born less deserving than themselves. The result is horrifying.
shick on January 3, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Islamic ambulance chasers, a new job category in America
I await the commercial:
Have you ever been removed from a plane for maintaining a discussion about the safest spot in an airplane just before takeoff while dressed like Osama bin Laden? Have you ever been asked to explain yourselves for discussing the good points about airplane hijacking? Have you ever innocently displayed terrorist related clues on an airplane and been questioned for exercising the right to intimidate your fellow passengers?
If so, call us, islamic ambulance chasers. Contribute to the the cause and make money too
With your help we can break the system
entagor on January 3, 2009 at 12:50 PM
I will not submit.
Johan Klaus on January 3, 2009 at 2:50 PM
If the Americans really thought CAIR were a threat to them, surely some of them would have moved to destroy its leaders long ago.
Kralizec on January 3, 2009 at 4:47 PM
That’s swell. But your grandchildren?
Kralizec on January 3, 2009 at 4:48 PM
It seems sabbott thinks ignorant, stupid people are harmless.
Kralizec on January 3, 2009 at 4:53 PM
This is a simplistic understanding of Islamic terrorists, and a misunderstanding of the Qur’an (which forbids attacks against innocent women and children, along with forbidding suicide). For example, a lot of Osama bin Laden’s rhetoric is purely political. For many Muslim extremists, their faith isn’t the cause of their anger, but merely a bonding agent that they can use to join to the political anger of other Muslims.
You can see a similar thing happen in America — many different causes all flying under the banner of “freedom.” Bush uses that a lot. Bush doesn’t care about freedom (c’mon — Mr. “I am abandoning market principles”), he just knows that freedom, to many people, is an inspiring and unifying idea.
Mark Jaquith on January 4, 2009 at 2:46 AM
I don’t know why but when I read (red) your post I thought maybe you were holding back something. Feel free to tell us how you really feel. Your post was eye opening. It is obvious that you are a vigilant person who understands there is a group of fanatic muslims who will stop at nothing to further their hatred of all things non-muslim. You are correct we do not fear them. We abhor them.
They can run but they can’t hide. Eventually we will get them. They keep killing the muslims who do not agree with them. Soon those muslims will turn on them like the ones in Iraq did. When that day comes the US military will introduce them to Allah.
kanda on January 4, 2009 at 6:44 PM
This is an often stated idea that the west has about islam… and it is also NOT true. Christians always say you can’t take the bible in soundbites, yet they so easily accept one peaceful, lovey-dovey passage from the quran as representing the entire religion. Sura 9 abrogates EVERY peaceful passage in the Quran and we still have not touched on the Hadith (the writings of Muhammad, which gives much of the context to the Quran). These are full of hateful, violent, supremacist ideas. Moreover, show me one passage in the bible (or any other major religion) that orders its followers to kill or forcefully subjugate those of other religions, from now until the end of time or your religion rules the entire planet…
While I don’t disagree with any of these… I have to say his rhetoric catches on because the themes of islamic supremacy and violent jihad are in the Quran and the Hadith. You should read more of Robert Spencer’s work. I agree with him that until we can argue with the extremists with an ideological argument that sticks (other than your wishful thinking of “but, but Islam is a religion of peace”) terrorism will continue to flourish…. and Islam will continue to be a threat to our way of life.
BadBrad on January 5, 2009 at 7:39 AM
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