Yet another incident of Islamophobia!!! A Muslim woman has stated that she was forcibly expelled from an American Airlines flight in New Jersey, as a white male passenger did not “feel comfortable” with her inside the flight.
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh described the torture on Twitter, expressing that “an entitled white man” complained about her after a nervous interaction while standing in queue for airport security check. She said that the man hopped in front of her in the queue and also pushed his belongings to run forward of her.
This is the @AmericanAir manager coming onboard to tell me that they're removing me from my flight because "there is a passenger onboard who doesn't feel comfortable" with me. pic.twitter.com/pwBS5NkvAn
— AMANI (@xoamani) November 15, 2020
She remarked that if she as a “veiled Muslim woman” had acted in the same way she would have encountered different impacts. Later, when she boarded the flight, she was told to vacate by a manager because the untitled man complained that she made him feel discomfiting.
“The captain asked me, as a manager, for me to remove you from the aircraft because there’s a passenger on board who doesn’t feel comfortable with you being here,” he said. Here are her tweets and also a video of her conversation with the American Airlines manager:
I had the craziest experience in TSA this morning.
An entitled white man behind me insisted on cutting me in line because I was “still taking my shoes off.”
When I said he could wait like everyone else, he started going off about how he’s “pre check” and “first class” 1/3
— AMANI (@xoamani) November 14, 2020
Y’all know if I, a VEILED MUSLIM WOMAN, had the audacity to throw a temper tantrum and run through TSA security, I would have gotten BODIED. I would have been detained, missed my flight, possibly gotten charged, etc.
We need to resurrect the @muslimgirl #ShitTSASays column. 3/3
— AMANI (@xoamani) November 14, 2020
As she left the plane, she was apprehended and charged with delay of transportation and trespass. She was released later.
Responding to the incident, Nihad Awad, Executive Director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim rights nonprofit, told, ”Although we do not yet know all of the facts about this incident, we do know that American Airlines has a history of mistreating Muslim travelers. The airline must immediately clear why it singled out Amani by reaching the police and removing her from a flight based on the word of a man who had harassed her.”
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