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UAE students want apology after being pulled from flight
| The system worked as planned. |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A group of students from the United Arab Emirates have demanded an apology from Charlotte Douglas airport security officials and an airline after they were removed from a Washington-bound flight and questioned.
| Sorry. But your co-religiists are at war with us, and there are consequences. When you get home you might want to denounce the idiot jihadis who caused you such embarrassment. |
According to a report from ABC News affiliate WJLA in Washington, D.C., several members of the group were removed from U.S. Airways flight 1768 from Charlotte to Washington and questioned by police. The process caused a nearly five-hour delay. According to flight data, the flight was supposed to take off at 4:35 p.m. Thursday, but did not make its way down the runway until 9:30 p.m.
U.S. Airways officials said a "security issue" led to several passengers -- namely the students from the UAE -- to be rescreened before the flight was cleared for flight.
| Sorry, that's the captain's perogative. He doesn't have to take anyone he considers a threat to his crew and passengers. |
However, several people in that group are demanding an apology from airport security and U.S. Airways, WJLA reports.
| No doubt they will get an apology. Equally no doubt it will be a meaningless pro forma. |
"We want an apology and an explanation to why they took us off the plane and then left us there," Yaqoob Al-Shamsi, one of the passengers removed from the flight, told WJLA. "We were emotionally hurt. We want them to tell people that they didn't do anything."
U.S. Airways officials only said a "security issue" was reported. They said they took all the bags off the flight, rescreened them, and put them back on. But they wouldn't comment on how they dealt with passengers.
Students, though, said security officers came on board their plane. "He told me, 'Get your bag and leave the plane now,'" Al-Dhaheri said. Other members of the group said authorities questioned them about the reason for their visit to the nation's capital as well as where they were from and whether they had military training and experience.
"They were questioned a lot," student Salem Al-Mansoori said. "I mean, 'What do you do every day, where do you go.'"
Al-Mansoori said he is training to be a pilot. Al-Dhaheri said he switched seats because he received a different boarding card. He also said that according to security officers, passengers reported they heard the group talking about airplanes and the military while on board. Sources said that's when some passengers reported them.
| Three strikes and you're out, my dear. Sorry. Separately, a hearty "Well done!" to the captain, the security team, and the passengers who reported our high-spirited visitors. |
Posted by: 2011-11-26 |
