overhead bin space

The NY Times reports on CAIR’s case against US Airways:

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Islamic advocacy group, said this was hardly the first time Muslims had encountered problems with stereotyping by the airline. “We seem to have received more complaints against US Airways” than other carriers, Mr. Awad said in an interview. Those complaints have come from Muslim employees and passengers alike, he said. 

Everything I’ve read on the story of the Muslim imans who were removed from a recent US Airways flight leads me to believe that the airline took the appropriate precautions given passenger complaints and flight crew concerns. Yet CAIR is singling out US Airways for criticism. Would CAIR prefer that US Airways ignore suspicious activity just because the suspicious people are Muslim? Apparently so.  Wouldn’t you classify this behavior as suspicious: 

Detailed accounts of the incident varied. Witnesses, including a number of passengers and US Airways employees, said they heard some of the men making anti-American remarks and chanting “Allah,” first as they boarded the plane and then when led off, Mr. Hogan said.

As a frequent flier who logs more than 100,000 miles a year, I am more likely to pick US Airways for future flights after this incident. It shows that they are not willing to compromise the security of their passengers even if it means risking some negative press.

Fox News reported today that the imans kicked off the US Airways flight staged an airport “pray-in” to protest what they call racial profiling by US Airways.  Here’s the airline’s side of the story:

US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Andrea Rader said prayer was never the issue.

“Apparently, as they were boarding, one passenger overheard them saying what they thought were anti-U.S. statements,” Rader said.

She also said the men got up and moved around the airplane, forcing the flight crew to consult with the airline about whether they might pose a security risk. Local law enforcement and the FBI thought they did, she said.

Sounds suspicious enough to me. While everyone has the right to free speech, the courts have recognized limits to this right. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is often the example provided.  Making anti-US comments on a crowded plane would certainly cause passenger concern as well.  These imans certainly have the right to hate the US all they want, but it would be wise if they kept these thoughts to themselves while boarding/flying an airplane.

The article also notes that the imans were moving about the plane. Another article I read mentioned that they asked to switch seats.  This can be incredibly disruptive during boarding– especially with the recent airline load factors. It also reduces the chance of an on-time departure.  The proper way to switch seats is to ask at the check-in desk prior to boarding. If nothing is available, board the plane AND then ask the flight crew if a move would be possible AFTER everyone has been seated and the plane has taken off. I’ve seen passengers try to switch seats without asking, and it always causes a disruption when the passenger who is ticketed for that seat has to ask the other passenger to move. 

These imans seem rather entitled to me. I would be surprised if they were the type of passenger to protest if someone reclined his seat in front of them. After all, they have demonstrated that they care only about themselves and not the feelings of their fellow passengers.

Muslims are calling for a boycott of US Airways after the airline removed several Imans from the plane after they disobeyed instructions from a flight crew and forced other passengers to listen to their prayers.

The police report listed the incident as “Security-Other,” but some saw the detention of six imams at the airport here as a case of “Flying while Muslim” — the idea that Muslims come in for extra scrutiny when they fly…….

It was just the latest incident in which passengers who were Muslim or, in some cases, just not Caucasian were removed from a flight for questioning. In August, a flight from Amsterdam to Mumbai was escorted back to the airport by F-16 fighters because a group of Indians on the plane had a large number of cell phones, notebook computers and hard drives, and refused to follow the crew’s instructions.

This is pure BS. It is not discrimination to view disobeying a flight crew’s instructions and/or carrying a large number of cellphones as a threat to airplane security.  CAIR doesn’t care about airplane security or the right of ALL airline passengers to fly safely– knowing that flight crew instructions are being obeyed. Instead, they paint Muslims as victims:

“Unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airport, and it’s one that we’ve been addressing for some time,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The group planned to file a complaint over the incident, Hooper said.

Gee…I wonder why people perceived to be Muslims are viewed with suspicion by other passengers? Could it be because Muslim extremists hijacked planes on 9/11? After 9/11, all fliers are on-edge and concerned about airport security.  Since 9/11, passengers (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) have been removed from flights for simply wearing offensive t-shirts,  public displays of affection and any offense in which they disobey a flight attendant’s instructions. I recently saw a man removed from a plane after the flight attendant smelled alcohol on his breath.  That’s not discrimination. That’s common sense.  But CAIR wants to paint Muslims as victims and enjoys whining to the press.

CAIR should shut up and be sensitive to the fact that thousands of people died on 9/11 because airport security wasn’t strict enough. If a few innocent people are temporarily delayed due to questioning, isn’t that better than letting a few terrorists slip through because the airline is afraid being vigilant will cause a PR nightmare? Should people die because an airline is afraid some whiners will call for a boycott?

If anything, this incident with the Imans makes me more likely to fly US Airways. At least I know they aren’t afraid to take passenger concerns seriously rather than bowing to special interest group propaganda.  

Another update on the Imans kicked off the airplane story, Reuters reports that American Muslims are outraged that several Muslim men were removed from a plane after they refused orders from the captain and flight crew to leave after they were deemed a security threat.

Here’s the whining:

Muslim leaders expressed outrage on Tuesday after six imams were removed from a commercial airline flight in Minnesota for what they said was nothing more than trying to say evening prayers.

“They were treated like terrorists … humiliated,” said Abu Hannoud, civil rights director for the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who said the men were taken off the US Airways flight in handcuffs.

He said the men were still trying to find a flight back to Phoenix where most are affiliated with a major mosque after the carrier refused them passage following the incident on Monday evening.

“We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims and Islam,” added Nihad Awad, executive director of the council, in a statement from the group’s Washington headquarters.

Reuters demonstrates its prejucide by not presenting the opposite viewpoint in its article on the situation. There are a lot of quotes about how outraged the Muslims were but none from the other passengers forced to listen to their prayers. 

Passengers on airplanes are a captive audience, and they are entitled to have the airline protect their rights from the other passengers. I have no doubt that a Christian who stood up to pray or preach aloud on an airplane or a comic or singer who decided to give an impromptu performance would be asked by the flight crew to cease their activities.  For their own safety, passengers should obey the requests of flight crew and the captain while flying. Refusing these requests would be cause for an airline to refuse service. Airlines are a business, and they have a right to impose rules– even arbitrary rules– to keep order on the plane. (E.g. You must use headphones if you want to listen to music on an airplane. If you bring a pet, it must be kept in its carrier and not on your lap. You’re supposed to stay in your seat when the fasten seatbelt sign is on. Etc.)  Why should Muslims be a protected group? Should they have a special right to harass the other passengers?

What bothers me about this story is that US Airways is going to have to waste its time investigating a frivolous complaint. Additionally, CAIR and those whiners ejected from the plane are creating a climate of intimidation for flight crews. If you were on a flight crew and knew that you’d be investigated and called a racist for questioning the behavior of any Muslim, you might eventually decide it wasn’t worth the hassle to be vigilant. And the next time the suspicious behavior might be terrorist.  Through their frivolous complaints, CAIR is actually making air travel more dangerous.

And that makes me outraged!

The Associated Press reported that 6 Imans were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport after they refused to leave the plane when the captain asked them to leave the plane.

 What amazes me is that the Associated Press treats the Imans as victims :

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, expressed anger at the detentions.

“CAIR will be filing a complaint with relevant authorities in the morning over the treatment of the imams to determine whether the incident was caused by anti-Muslim hysteria by the passengers and/or the airline crew,” Hooper said. “Because, unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it’s one that we’ve been addressing for some time.”

So according to CAIR, the detention of the ”scholars” was caused by “anti-Muslim hysteria” and the authorities were completely in error.

According to my reading of the story, these peaceful ”scholars” refused the captain’s request that they leave the plane following a passenger complaint. So were the “scholars” just a victim of “anti-Muslim hysteria” who were singled out due to their form of dress and/or skin color? Or did they do something suspicious? The AP explains:

Three of them stood and said their normal evening prayers together on the plane, as 1.7 billion Muslims around the world do every day, Shahin said. He attributed any concerns by passengers or crew to ignorance about Islam.

“I never felt bad in my life like that,” he said. “I never. Six imams. Six leaders in this country. Six scholars in handcuffs. It’s terrible.”

Shahin expressed frustration that — despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since even before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — so many Americans know so little about Islam.

“If up to now they don’t know about prayers, this is a real problem,” he said.

Can CAIR and Shahin really be so clueless? One of the most recent times a large group of Muslim men stood up on a plane and called out to Allah, “Allah Akbar” was one of the last things the passengers heard before dying.

And even if 9/11 hadn’t happened, do these Muslim scholars really think they have a right to force the other passengers to listen to their prayers? Can’t they pray quietly? And if their religion truly requires them to stand and pray aloud while flying, what makes them think that would magically make it ok for them to do so? What if your religion involved praying naked? I doubt that you’d be permitted to do that on a plane.

I wonder how the story would have read if a fundamentalist Christian had stood up on a plane and decided to say his prayers aloud.  I highly doubt it would have portrayed the Christian as a scholar and a victim and noted the passenger’s anti-Christian hysteria. It would declared that a Christian fundamentalist forced the other passengers to listen to his prayers, refused the captain’s orders to leave the plane and was detained to the relief of the other passengers. The story wouldn’t have been as one-sided as the AP puff piece on the imans, which featured quotations only from Muslim-friendly sources.  In the hypothetical Christian fundamentalist piece, I’m sure there would have been quotes from either passengers or flight crew noting the man’s “instability” or “crazy look.” Maybe the AP would even have thrown in a few completely unrelated remarks from some abortion doctor who said the incident gave him flashbacks to clinic bombings and caused him trauma.