CAIR sent a letter to Department of Transportation urging an investigation.
AB Wire
A 40-year-old Muslim man was asked to leave an American Airlines flight after a flight attendant publicly announced his name, seat number and said she would be “watching” him.
Mohamed Ahmed Radwan, a chemical engineer had boarded the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Detroit, Michigan on American Airlines flight 1821 on December 6, 2015 when the incident occurred.
The matter came to light on Wednesday when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained to transport authorities that Mohamed Ahmed Radwan was removed from the American Airline Flight last December because of his “identifiably Arabic and Muslim name.”
CAIR sent a letter to Department of Transportation urging an investigation and also called for a “thorough examination“ into prevailing practices of major airlines, The Charlotte Observer reported.
As he was taking his allotted seat, Mr Radwan said, a female flight attendant loudly announced, “Mohamed Ahmed, Seat 25-A, I will be watching you.”
After a minute, she repeated, “Mohamed Ahmed, that is a very long name, Seat 25-A, I will be watching you.” Then a third time, according to Radwan, she said, “25-A, you will be watched.”
Mr Radwan then approached the flight attendant and questioned her about her remarks. She replied that she was watching every one and added that Mr Radwan was being “too sensitive”.
Following further conversations with American Airlines staff about this incident, Mr Radwan was told the attendant felt ‘uncomfortable’ and he was eventually escorted off the aircraft.
Mr. Radwan instead booked a much later flight of another airline, which cost him about $1500 and interfered with his travel plans.
“I’ve been a US citizen for 13 years, but at that moment I felt my sense of being American taken from me,” Radwan added.
According to federal law, airlines are prohibited from discriminating against passengers based on religion, ancestry and national origin, among other criteria.
A spoke person for the airline told media that they were contacted by CAIR earlier this year and they thoroughly reviewed these allegations and concluded that no discrimination occurred.
In April, a Muslim woman was removed from a Southwest Airlines plane at Chicago airport after she had asked to switch seats as she was told she had made the flight attendant “uncomfortable”.