A Muslim family has requested a formal apology from United Airlines after being removed from a flight at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport last month. The family had been discussing with a flight attendant about how to secure a booster seat. This resulted in United employees informing the family that they needed to leave the plane due to a "safety of flight issue". The family is being represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations who agrees that they are tired of Muslim-looking passengers being removed from flights for the "flimsiest reasons", under a claim of security. United claims that it all was because of the booster seat. After arriving to the airport, the family has been rebooked to a later flight due to concerns over the booster seat. The family said that they tried to check the seat at the gate but the gate agent said to carry it on board because the computer system was down. The attendant told them they couldn't use the booster seat and they complied. They were then asked to show the tickets and informed that they needed to leave the flight. When the father asked why they needed to leave, the pilot said "Because it's my decision."
Although both sides of this story could have very strong arguments, I feel as though the family has every right to request an apology from United Airlines. You would think that if the booster seat was really an issue, the employees working at security wouldn't have even let the family enter the airport. Also, I feel like the family at least deserved a reason as to why they were being removed from the flight, not just a "Because it's my decision.'' On the other hand, there could've really been an issue with the seat and the family just took it the wrong way. However, taking the entire situation into perspective, I think that the family definitely deserves an apology or an actual explanation at the least.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/02/us/muslim-family-united-airlines/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment