Delta Fined 50 000 for Ordering Muslim Passengers Off Planes Despite Their Clearance to Fly
Delta Air Lines is facing a major fine for discriminating against its passengers, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In a consent order released on Friday, the airline was fined $50,000 in violation of anti-bias laws after removing three Muslim passengers from their respective flights in 2016. The federal department also ordered Delta to provide cultural-sensitivity training to all cabin crew members and customer service staff involved in the cases.
As cited in the document, a Muslim couple were removed from their flight from Paris, France to Cincinnati, Ohio on July 26, 2016 when another passenger made a complaint about the man and the woman — who was wearing a head scarf at the time. The document said the passenger told Delta staff that the couple was “fidgety, nervous, and sweating” and the man had “inserted something plastic into his watch,” making her “very uncomfortable and nervous.”
A cabin crew member also claimed she saw the man using the word “Allah” several times in a text when she walked through the cabin, the document said. Another flight attendant alleged that the man changed his phone screen when she passed in the cabin.
RELATED: 12-Year-Old Squash Player Forced to Remove Hijab Before Boarding Air Canada Flight with Team
Though Delta’s own corporate security concluded that they were U.S. citizens, raised “no red flags” and were cleared to fly after interviewing the man and the woman off the aircraft, the captain refused to let them re-board the plane, according to the consent order. The couple was rebooked to a flight on the following day.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the captain “failed to follow Delta’s required security protocol” prior to removing the couple and that it appeared the man and the woman would have been allowed to fly if not for their “perceived religion.”
The department also cited an incident that occurred July 31, 2016 as an example of discriminatory conduct in the consent order.
In that case, a Muslim man was removed from his flight from Amsterdam to New York after passengers and flight attendants complained to the captain about his behavior, according to the document. Passengers alleged they saw the man speaking “with a pers
