Flying while Muslim

Flying while Muslim or Muslim while flying is an expression referring to the problems Muslim passengers on airplanes can face in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. It is constructed in an analogy to the older expression Driving While Black, which similarly satirizes racial profiling of African Americans by police and other law enforcement. [1]

Incidents

An early usage of the phrase is dated by 2001.[2]

The issue was brought to media attention in 2006 (Flying Imams controversy) when six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight after they allegedly engaged in suspicious behavior reminiscent of that of the 9/11 hijackers.[3][4] Conservative pundits such as Ann Coulter and Robert Spencer argued that airlines have a right to treat Muslim passengers with suspicion as a consequence of Radical Islamist terrorism.[5][6]

In 2009 AirTran Airways removed nine Muslim passengers, including three children, from a flight and turned them over to the FBI after one of the men commented to another that they were sitting right next to the engines and wondered aloud where the safest place to sit on the plane was. Although the FBI subsequently cleared the passengers and called the incident a "misunderstanding," AirTran refused to seat the passengers on another flight, forcing them to purchase last minute tickets on another airline that had been secured with the FBI's assistance. A spokesman for AirTran initially defended the airline's actions and said they would not reimburse the passengers for the cost of the new tickets. Although the men had traditional beards and the women headscarves, AirTran denied that their actions were based on the passengers' appearance.[7] The following day, after the incident received widespread media coverage, AirTran reversed its position and issued a public apology, adding that it would in fact reimburse the passengers for the cost of their rebooked tickets.[8]

On 18 November 2015, in two separate incidents, passengers at Midway Airport were allegedly not permitted to fly aboard Southwest Airlines flights when other passengers claimed to be afraid to fly with them because they were speaking Arabic, or appeared to be Muslim. The refusal sparked widespread condemnation on the airline's social media pages and received prominent coverage, in the US and internationally, accompanied by calls for a boycott of the airline.[9] According to The Economist, "in the two Southwest cases, it was the passengers themselves conducting their own vigilante profiling; the airline was merely bowing to their demands."[10]

On April 6, 2016 Southwest Airlines removed a passenger from a flight at Los Angeles International Airport for speaking arabic before pushback. [11][12]

On April 15, 2016 Southwest removed a Muslim passenger from a flight at Midway Airport after she traded seats with several other passengers.[13] A spokesperson from the Council on American–Islamic Relations called on Southwest to explain their actions and the passenger's husband said “She was humiliated because of her religion and the way she dressed”.[14][15]

See also

References

  1. Islamic Activists Ask, Is There A 'flying While Muslim' Bias?
  2. "I've faced both kinds of profiling: driving while black and flying while Muslim" in: "Metro Matters; Last Week, Profiling Was Wrong" by Joyce Purnick, The New York Times, September 15, 2001
  3. See suspicious acts Feel free to report them The Philadelphia Inquirer April 08 2007 Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. "Not Flying While Muslim" by William Fisher (opinion piece).
  5. "What Can I Do to Make Your Flight More Uncomfortable?" by Ann Coulter; "Muslim Imams: The New Rosa Parks?" by Robert Spencer.
  6. Mhmood and Adnan Haider vs. America West, http://www.forensicpanel.com/about/selected_cases.html#MhmoodAndAdnanHaiderVsAmericaWest
  7. 9 Muslim Passengers Removed From Jet
  8. Airline Offers Apology Over Detained Muslim Passengers
  9. Lauren Gambino. "Southwest Airlines criticized after incidents involving Middle Eastern passengers". the Guardian.
  10. "Southwest Airlines accused of profiling Muslims". The Economist. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  11. UC Berkeley student questioned, refused service after speaking Arabic on flight BY MAYA ELIAHOU; April 14, 2016 Daily Californian
  12. College Student Is Removed From Flight After Speaking Arabic on Plane By LIAM STACK; April 17, 2016 The New York Times
  13. Muslim woman kicked off of Southwest flight after asking to switch seats for religious reasons BY MEG WAGNER New York Daily News Saturday, April 16, 2016
  14. CAIR Calls For Probe After Maryland Muslim Woman Removed From Southwest Flight By George Solis ] WJZ-TV.com; April 15, 2016
  15. Muslim woman kicked off plane as flight attendant said she 'did not feel comfortable' with the passenger by Rachael Reves; Friday 15 April 2016 The Independent

External links

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