An American Muslim family was reportedly asked by a United Airlines pilot to leave a plane before take-off because of “safety” concerns.
A video taken by Eaman-Amy Saad Shebley, shows her husband and three young children questioning a pilot why they were being removed from the plane.
The family were on a plane bound for Washington at a Chicago airport.
Earlier, the family had asked a flight attendant whether they could get five-point harness safety seats for their children, according to the Independent.
Shame on you unitedAirlines for profiling my family and me for no reason other than how we look and kicking us off the…
In the video, while being asked to get off the plane, Shebley is heard asking whether it was a “discriminatory” request. The pilot replied saying it was a “flight safety issue.”
They were not given details beyond this response.
On Facebook, Shebley posted: “Shame on you #unitedAirlines for profiling my family and me for no reason other than how we look and kicking us off the plane for “safety flight issues” on our flight to DC for the kids spring break. My three kids are too young to have experienced this.”
United Airlines said the family was rebooked “on a later flight because of concerns about their child’s safety seat, which did not comply with federal safety regulations” and said the airline has “zero tolerance for discrimination,” according to a statement made to BuzzFeed News.
“We are tired of Muslim-looking passengers being removed from flights for the flimsiest reasons, under a cryptic claim of ‘security,’” the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago said in a statement.
Last year, a Muslim traveler aboard a United Airlines flight was denied an unopened can of diet coke and was told “it’s so you don’t use it as a weapon,” just after handing an unopened can to another passenger.
Source: Alarabiya
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