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'Safest' seat remarks gets Muslim family kicked off plane
A Muslim family removed from an airliner Thursday after passengers became concerned about their conversation say AirTran officials refused to rebook them, even after FBI investigators cleared them of wrongdoing.

Atif Irfan said federal authorities removed eight members of his extended family and a friend after passengers heard them discussing the safest place to sit and misconstrued the nature of the conversation.
Safest from what? Being glanced at?
Irfan, a U.S. citizen and tax attorney, said he was "impressed with the professionalism" of the FBI agents who questioned him, but said he felt mistreated when the airline refused to book the family for a later flight.
What? They didn't offer you a full refund? How rude!
AirTran Airways late Thursday said they acted properly and that the family was offered full refunds and can fly with AirTran again.
Uh oh, the curtains are starting to be pulled back . . .
"AirTran Airways complied with all TSA, law enforcement and Homeland Security directives and had no discretion in the matter," the company said in a prepared statement.

Family members disagreed.

"The FBI agents actually cleared our names," said Inayet Sahin, Irfan's sister-in-law. "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused."

"The airline told us that we can't fly their airline," Irfan said.

The dispute occurred about 1 p.m. Thursday as AirTran flight 175 was preparing for takeoff from Reagan National Airport outside of Washington, D.C., on a flight destined for Orlando, Florida.

Atif Irfan, his brother, their wives, a sister and three children were headed to Orlando to meet with family and attend a religious conference.
Heh heh! Now they'll have something to confer about!
"The conversation, as we were walking through the plane trying to find our seats, was just about where the safest place in an airplane is," Sahin said. "We were (discussing whether it was safest to sit near) the wing, or the engine or the back or the front, but that's it. We didn't say anything else that would raise any suspicion."
The safest is in the back, where you'll be the last to hit the ground when the plane crashes. After the bomb goes off.
The conversation did not contain the words "bomb," "explosion," "terror" or other words that might have aroused suspicion, Irfan said.
How about "triangulation"?
"When we were talking, when we turned around, I noticed a couple of girls kind of snapped their heads," said Sobia Ijaz, Irfan's wife. "I kind of thought to myself, 'Oh, you know, maybe they're going to say something.' It didn't occur to me that they were going to make it such a big issue."
I mean, doesn't everyone talk about explosive compounds, delay timers, cell phone detonators, and the where it is safest to sit in an aluminum tube when it crashes into the ground at 400mph?
Some time later, while the plane was still at the gate, an FBI agent boarded the plane and asked Irfan and his wife to leave the plane. The rest of the family was removed 15 or 20 minutes later, along with a family friend, Abdul Aziz, a Library of Congress attorney and family friend who was coincidentally taking the same flight and had been seen talking to the family.
Heading to the same conference, I presume? Man, these guys take their conferences seriously!
After the FBI interviewed family members, it released them, Irfan said.

AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said the incident began when some passengers reported hearing suspicious remarks by a woman and alerted flight attendants. Two Federal Air Marshals, who were on board the flight, notified law enforcement about the security-related issue, AirTran said.

After the family and Aziz were taken for questioning, the remaining 95 passengers were taken off of the plane and rescreened, along with the crew and the baggage, AirTran said.
Go! Go! Ditch 'em! Get outta here before their remarks are found to be innocent?
Irfan said he believes his family is owed an apology.
Lucky for you, Irfan, that one doesn't have to apologize for being stupid, be it by genetics, choice, or culture. Or all three, in some cases. Wink wink.
"Really, at the end of the day, we're not out here looking for money. I'm an attorney. I know how the court system works. We're basically looking for someone to say... 'We're apologizing for treating you as second-class citizens.'"
Don't act like one.
"We are proud Americans," Sahin said. "You know we decided to have our children and raise them here. We can very easily go anywhere we want in the world, but you know we love it here and we're not going to go away, no matter what."
Good. Now go enlist in the marines. And stop talking like a terrorist. And stop trying to get everyone to act all politically correct around terrorist talk.
Aziz said there is a "very strong possibility" he will pursue a civil rights lawsuit.
Good luck. Hope you've got a lot of extra cash you don't need.
"I guess it's just a situation of guilt by association," Aziz said. "They see one Muslim talking to another Muslim and they automatically assume something wrong is going on."
So where is the safest place to sit on an airplane, Irfan?
Posted by: gorb 2009-01-02
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=258813