Premiar captain refused 3 arabs

[one four sick]

It is simply unarguable.
If a captain is not happy about a certain passenger(s), even if it's because his looks or possible religion he has the unquestionable right to refuse entry.

No room for liberalism over this subject!

I want to see more muslims condemning the WTC attacks in huge demonstrations all over the world. I want those bl*ody Palestinians that were jubilating on the streets of dustland on THAT day to come on telly and apologise.

Until there's a major change as above, I will refuse whomever I want! I trust no one!

[New Bloke]

I think like most woolly liberals I have had to review my feelings over the last month or so. This action by the Captain could be viewed as Racist, HOWEVER, non-Racist people now have to perform racist deeds. In light of the awful events of Sep 11th self preservation MUST come first. Throw them off, get on with your flight, get on with your life.

Any Company MUST back the actions of their staff in these dark days, not to do so would be paramount to usurping the Captains Authority.

[Paterbrat]

MaxAlt in light of present circumstances and aware that feelings worldwide are running high would explain to pax that the matter is going to be investigated further. Investigate other members of the party and if not satisfied with the results ask the party to take another flight. That is what the public is entitled to and part of the duties we are required to exercise our judgement over, the safety of the flight.

[TARFU]

Recently had a flight where a single arab looking man was given the last row all to himself, the rear cabin attendants asked im if he was going to give us any trouble, the poor guy sat in his seat with his hands on the table the whole flight!!!!!
Instaed of all the media hype, we should take a page out of a certain ex south african ministry book and quietly arrest and "lose" the most noticable protesters. what do you think of these people who live on the dole in your country and celebrated publicly the wtc attack???
We should introduce sleeping gas into the cabin before departure and then No worries maties!!!!
at the last count it was terrorists 4500 USA 210
USA! USA! USA!

[fireflybob]

one four six - how I agree that we need to hear more condemnation from the muslim leaders.

Did you watch Panorama on BBC last Sunday? It was called Koran & Country. You can see the programme or read the transcript at:-

Koran & Country

I was amazed to hear some of the comments which were being made and feel sure that in any other context people would be held up for "incite to riot" or "racial harassment, etc".

If you watch the programme you can also post comments at the website.

Finally, as has been said aircraft commanders have the absolute right to refuse anyone travel and should certainly do so if there is anything in their psyche which leads them to be uneasy - the stakes are just to high! If in doubt, check it out!

[pdashley]

Kubota

How on earth does your Hispanic friend ever get anywhere, if he deplanes at the sight of a darker skinned passenger than him?. I would contend that on just about every flight that operates anywhere, there'll be at least one black passenger who isn't a native Spanish speaker. Also does he quiz each darker skinned passengers on his way down the aircraft before taking his seat to see if they are proficient Spanish speakers. Does he consider the crew?.

[GeofJ]

In fear of being labeled a liberal - which would be a hard thing to take for a dyed in the wool conservative - I disagree with anyone having the right to not allow boarding to anyone based on race, religion or looks or bad vibes or funny feelings or whatever. If there is a demonstratable reason to suspect someone, pitch them from the plane headfirst without benefit of airstairs but don't deny boarding to someone whose only crime is to look middle eastern. Maybe as a pax and not flight crew I just see this from a different angle but if anyone is arbitrarily banned from a flight we all have given up a bit of our rights. On the subject of those who celebrate the cold blooded murder of 5000 innocent civilians including untold numbers of believers of Islam in the WTC on 9-11 - you should be on your knees begging for forgiveness from the civilized world - MURDER IS NOT A RELIGIOUS ACT!

[maxalt]

The security services were indeed contacted. They attended the a/c quite quickly.

They interviewed the individual with the 'fundamentalist literature'. Here is a link to the website belonging to the authours of his literature; http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/english/english.html

The security services detained him, and interviewed the rest of the group. They stated they were satisfied to allow the others to travel, advising that the rest were not connected with this person except through business. I can't give more detail but I was happy with the explanation I got.

This whole incident took two hours to resolve and caused great distress to the other pax in spite of the best efforts made to reassure them.

While I agree with the comments being made about the extraordinary circumstances we face at the moment I still feel that the law (as it still stands) does not assist a Captain in making a pure 'judgement call' with no other firm grounds to back up refusal of carriage.
Whether get away with it will depend on how you personally handle things and on how your legal department view your actions (and whether your management choose to side with you).

I personally would recommend a quiet word with the security people to make sure they need to interview the individuals in question properly. In the Terminal!
While you go on your merry way (sans the bags off course).

[swedish]

From the handling agent at Stockholm - the passengers would not take the seats as they been allocated seats far apart from each other - one I understand was a child. In my experience it is quite normal for passenger to refuse to take their seats until the Cabin Crew help sort it out.

[ 17 October 2001: Message edited by: swedish ]

[Dragonwing]

Without knowing the full background of the story, IMHO it is a very worrying thought that anyone has been denied access to board an aircraft solely on the base of his origin and looks!

KUBOTA
I sincerely hope for you that you will never have to do any flights to the Middle East, Africa,.... Continue flying from Houston to Des Moines, because that's where you belong.

[one four sick]

Dragonwing,

Quote:

"it is a very worrying thought that anyone has been denied access to board an aircraft solely on the base of his origin and looks!"

If you are happy to carry 6 Mohammads very LIBERALLY on your flight that have all bought tickets the same morning and have a problem later, then remind me who you work for so I don't get on your flight ok?

fireflybob

Thanks for the link I'll check it out.

[Paddington*]

If I suspected a security problem with one of our passengers I would expect them to be offloaded (with baggage), questioned by security and then possibly put on a later flight. Full stop. No question. I would not want my passengers, crew or myself to be put in the kind of danger seen on September 11th.

There are many risks when flying but at least a dodgy passenger is one that we can address then and there on the ground.