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Uneasy pilots refuse Arab-named travelers
By LINDA GIBSON
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- Mohamed El Sayed, an American citizen born in Egypt, has boarded planes at Tampa International Airport dozens of times without anyone batting an eyelash. On Friday, he arrived three hours ahead of his 2:15 p.m. flight, checked two bags and went through security. He arrived at the United Airlines gate with his $1,100 ticket to Cairo, his American passport and his boarding pass. As he was about to board, a voice on the intercom asked him to report to the ticket counter. In a firm but pleasant voice, a United employee told El Sayed the pilot was refusing to let him board. El Sayed, who lives in Largo, is certain he was booted from the flight because of his name. United Airlines officials in Tampa and Washington, D.C., would not comment Friday. El Sayed's plight is but the latest example of a frenzy of suspicion since last week's terrorist attacks. In several cases this week, passengers of Middle Eastern descent have been booted from flights because of concerns from pilots or other passengers. In Orlando on Monday, two businessmen from Pakistan were ordered off a US Airways flight bound for Baltimore. In Minneapolis, four Arab-American men were prevented from boarding a Northwest plane Thursday when the flight crew raised security concerns, the airline said. In San Antonio, Texas, a 32-year-old businessman of Pakistani descent was ushered off a plane Monday by a pilot who said he and his crew were "not safe flying with you." In the Tampa case, the 35-year-old El Sayed, who has three children and owns a convenience store in St. Petersburg, was flying to meet his wife, whom he married in 1998, and to bring her back to Largo. Arrangements for this had taken more than six months, he said. On Tuesday, he got a phone call telling him to report to the American Embassy in Cairo on Monday for an interview with immigration officials. Their approval would be the final step in bringing his wife to live permanently in the U.S. He called a lawyer Friday as he waited for a later flight out. "I'm not going to let it go," said El Sayed, a U.S. citizen since 1988. "Here's President Bush saying just yesterday in plain English, 'We don't want to take this out on Arab-Americans or Muslims.' My living is here, my family is here, I made this my homeland." Five hours later, with the help of a United security official, he boarded a different United flight bound for Cairo. Before the attacks, pilots typically did not review passenger lists. But with the heightened security, pilots are being extremely cautious and taking security steps they have not taken before. Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the southern region of the Federal Aviation Administration, said she had heard about passengers being kicked off flights. "Under our regulations, a pilot has the authority to refuse to fly anyone deemed to be a threat to the flight, someone interfering with the operation of the plane or the work of the flight crew," she said. "Our regulations do not address removing an individual because of ethnic background. For us, it is a safety-of-the-flight issue only. (The Tampa incident) is an internal matter for the airline and maybe an issue for the Justice Department." Several passengers at TIA on Friday said they thought it was wrong that Arab-Americans were being denied the right to fly. "It's not fair," said 29-year-old Anne Endebroock, who was flying to Detroit after visiting her mother in Hernando County. "We're all from somewhere else, if we're not American-Indians," said 25-year-old Brian Nussbaum of St. Petersburg. In the Orlando case, businessmen Akbar Ali and Muhammad Naeem Butt were told the pilot would not take off until they left the aircraft. They were accepted on a later US Airways flight to Baltimore. A spokesman for US Airways declined comment but noted that the company's chairman, Stephen Wolf, sent a special bulletin to employees Sept. 14. "It is important to remind ourselves," the bulletin said, that "we must show the greatest respect, indeed, support for our Muslim, Arab-American and Middle Eastern co-workers and customers." In the Minneapolis case, Northwest Airline spokesman Doug Killian would not say why three Arab-Americans were prevented from boarding a flight. The three Iraqi natives were allowed to board a later flight to Salt Lake City. They told reporters they were removed because passengers refused to fly with them on board. "I feel I've been discriminated and treated rudely and badly," said Kareem Alasady, 36, who said he's an American citizen. Killian said that under FAA rules, "the airline has no choice but to reaccommodate a passenger or passengers if their actions or presence make a majority of passengers uncomfortable and threaten to disrupt normal operations of flight." In the San Antonio case, 32-year-old businessman Ashraf Khan was sitting in his first-class seat on a Delta Air Lines jet when the pilot approached and asked him to leave the plane. "He said, 'Mr. Khan, I want you to pick up your backpack and come out from the aircraft. And I'm not going to fly you because me and my crew are not safe flying with you,' " Kahn told a reporter for National Public Radio. Khan said the pilot told him, " 'I have no idea how come you got the first-class ticket.' " At that point," Khan said, "I was totally shocked . . . I just grabbed my bag, and now I'm walking, thinking about just because of my name and just because of my religion, I've been treated like this in this country, living 11 years in this country." Khan later told National Public Radio the incident had prevented him from attending his brother's wedding. Khan said he has not heard from Delta, but NPR did receive a statement. It said, "Delta is investigating this incident. We take this matter very seriously. Delta does not condone discrimination in any form." - Times staff writers Jean Heller and Bill Adair and researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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