On New Year’s Day government officials ordered nine Muslim passengers, including three young children, off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a suspicious remark.
Later, while cleared by the FBI, the nine still weren’t permitted to fly to Orlando on AirTran, and had to incur the expense of last minute tickets to go there on US Airways.
Eventually, AirTran added a refund of the difference between the cost of their flight and US Air’s fare, to the already authorized full refund of their original tickets, and offered to fly the nine back from Orlando free. AirTran also apologized to the nine.
So what went wrong that nine innocent passengers were ordered removed from their vacation flight, interrogated by the FBI at length, and then while cleared of any wrongdoing were still denied boarding a later flight to their destination?
I don’t see a problem with the government here. I do see some problems with Air Tran.
I believe there was a lack of judgment, or an over-reaction on the part of some of the plane’s passengers. But that’s hard to point a finger at since we don’t know exactly what was said, or how.
We do know that two passengers went to a flight attendant and expressed their concern about what some of the nine said. We know that at least two key words were uttered: “security” and “safety.” We know that some of the nine appeared to be Muslim or Arab. We know that all of us constantly hear about Muslim and Arab terrorism, and that the terrorist acts by Muslims in Mubai were fresh in everyone’s minds.
Were the nine profiled by the passengers due to their appearance and did that affect the judgment of the passengers? I think so. Was it understandable? Probably.
Do I think the passengers were trying to discriminate or just looking out for their own safety? Personally I think they were just looking out for themselves.
I can’t even find a handful of incidents like this occurring on all the flights in the US in the last year. Considering the millions who have flown domestically during that time and the many Muslims who have flown, I think that passengers generally use great judgment and don’t discriminate against any group, including Muslims.
Did the nine do anything to deserve any of the treatment they got?
I think they probably did. They didn’t think about the consequences of talking about safety and security, and seating positions on the plane out-loud. I know I don’t talk about those things in an airport or on a plane.
What about the flight crew? Apparently the passengers spoke to the flight attendant, who spoke to the captain, who spoke to the Air Marshals. The captain remained concerned and the Air Marshals were asked to remove the nine. Was the captain right in what he did? I just don’t know, because I don’t know exactly what he was told, but I would have rather had him make a conservative judgment were I a passenger on that plane.
The Air Marshals had no choice at that point but to follow the captain’s order.
Did the FBI do anything wrong? Once called in, they had to interrogate the nine. The group said they were impressed with the FBI’s demeanor and professionalism, so they did their part well.
Here’s where the real problems occurred. Once the interrogations were complete, the FBI told the nine they were cleared, but apparently the FBI took their time to formally tell AirTran, as they said they hadn’t received word from the FBI, hence AirTran initially refused their rebooking.
Then AirTran personnel made their big blunder. Even after FBI representatives told the AirTran agents at the airport they were cleared, AirTran refused to rebook the nine.
Upper-level AirTran personnel clearly realized what happened shortly thereafter, as I don’t thing they would have made their public about face so quickly if they hadn’t.
I don’t see anything sinister here, but I sure do see a lack of training, poor communication, and poor judgment on the part of AirTran. They’ve got some work to do to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
