Muslim Woman Sues Southwest Airlines for Booting Her Off Flight
On March 13, 2011, Irum Abbasi was escorted off of a Southwest Airlines plane by a TSA employee. The Muslim woman from San Diego was wearing a hijab - the Islamic head scarf - while seated on a flight preparing for departure from San Diego to San Jose. A flight attendant became alarmed after hearing something she thought Abbasi said on her cellphone.
Abbasi later revealed that she said , "I have to go," during her cellphone call. The attendant thought she said, "It's a go."
After emigrating from Pakistan, Abbasi has lived in the U.S. for a decade and is a U.S. citizen. She is a grad student at San Jose State.
Abbasi has filed suit against Southwest Airlines, charging the airline with discrimination. The lawsuit has been filed on her behalf by the Council on American-Islamic Relations-California and noted San Diego civil liberties attorney James McElroy.
Three days after the March incident, Southwest apologized to Abbasi and noted that she was placed on the next flight to San Jose and gifted a travel voucher. "We sincerely apologize for the customer's inconvenience," the airline said in its public apology, reports L.A. Now.
A news conference to discuss the lawsuit is slated for today outside the terminal at Lindbergh Field.
