Nine Muslims kicked off AirTran flight

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.