Muslim family kicked off United Airlines plane for discrimination issues
April 4, 2016
324 1 minute read
An Arab-American family was kicked off a United Airlines plane traveling from Chicago to Washington
An Arab-American family was kicked off a United Airlines plane traveling from Chicago to Washington, D.C., after asking flight attendants about getting a safety harness for their children, the family said.
The mother, Eaman-Amy Saad Shebley, who wears a hijab, recorded the incident in two videos she posted to Facebook Wednesday, saying the family was asked to leave the plane for no reason other than how they looked.
In one video, a flight attendant asks the family to get off the plane but doesn’t say why.
In the second, the pilot tells the family members they were being asked to leave for an unspecified “safety of flight” issue. The video posts have since been removed from Facebook.
The family later reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“I felt singled-out, humiliated and helpless,” Shebley told the civil rights group.
In a statement released to WDIV, United Airlines said the family was rebooked “because of concerns about their child’s safety seat, which did not comply with federal safety regulations.”
“Both United and Sky West hold our employees to the highest standards of professionalism and have zero tolerance for discrimination,” the airliner added.
The family disembarked and spoke with United Airlines’ customer service representatives who apologized several times and rebooked the family’s flight, WDIV reported.
