American Airlines Accused Of Shocking Anti-Semitism

DansDeals has the story of how American Airlines allegedly removed an unaccompanied minor Orthodox Jewish passenger from a flight, due to the behavior of another Orthodox Jewish passenger who he didn’t even know…

American accused of collective punishment for Jewish passengers

This incident happened on Sunday, May 5, 2024, and involves American Airlines flight from Cleveland (CLE) to Washington (DCA). The flight was operated by subsidiary American Eagle, on an Embraer E175 with the registration code N123HQ.

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Two young, Orthodox Jewish passengers were removed from the flight before departure, and they didn’t know one another prior to this incident. Let me start by emphasizing that these are all allegations, and there’s no video footage of the incident, as both passengers only had flip phones.

According to reports, a 17-year-old was seated in 23A. Shortly after he boarded, a gate agent came onboard and told him to grab his stuff and follow him off the plane. The boy complied, though was confused as to why. When he asked the gate agent what happened, he was told that he should know what he did wrong, but he had no clue.

At the gate, he met a 21-year-old who was seated in 10D, who had also been removed from the flight. In this case, we at least know why he was removed (though it’s questionable to what extent this was necessary):

• While in the gate area prior to boarding, the 21-year-old noticed what appeared to be a dent in the tail of the plane, so he called his mother with his concerns, and she told him to let a flight attendant know
• When he boarded, he informed the flight attendant of the dent in the tail
• He felt uneasy about the situation, so when the gate agent came onboard, he went over to the gate agent and asked if he noticed the dent in the tail, and then sat back down
• Having felt ignored, he noticed the pilot talking to the gate agent at the front of the plane, and then went to the front of the plane to ask about the dent in the tail once again
• The pilot told him to sit down, but he wanted reassurance that it had been noticed and inspected, so he asked again, and the pilot told him to sit down
• He again asked the pilot if he was listening to his concerns, so the pilot told him a third time to sit down
• The gate agent reminded him that federal regulations require him to follow crew instructions, so he returned to his seat
• A few minutes later, the gate agent boarded and told him to get off the plane
• Then the crew pointed to the 17-year-old in the back of the plane, and told him to get off the plane, despite having had no interaction with the 21-year-old or the crew

Once removed from the aircraft, both travelers were told that they’d be blacklisted from American, and would have to make different travel arrangements. When asked what they did wrong, they were told that they should know what they did.

My take on this troubling incident

Let me again emphasize that we only have one side of the story, so this should of course be investigated, and all parties should have their perspectives heard. With that in mind, a few thoughts…

In the case of the 21-year-old who repeatedly asked the crew about the dent in the tail of the aircraft, it’s hard to know what to make of that. It’s fine to bring something to the attention of the crew, though he definitely went overboard, reportedly asking five times during the boarding process.

I also can’t help but assume that maybe he was just confused? The Embraer E175 curves around the tail in a way that might look like a dent to some, so I think that’s the most likely explanation. I have to imagine the crew could have done a better job deescalating the situation, but let’s ignore that for the moment.

What’s awful here is that an unrelated 17-year-old was removed from the aircraft, with seemingly no connection other than having a similar appearance:

• The two claim to not have met one another until they were both taken off the plane and at the gate together
• The 17-year-old had just boarded, and didn’t express any concerns about the “dent” in the plane

Everything here points to this simply being a collective punishment for Jewish passengers. At least I don’t have any other theory that’s logical. Unfortunately this wouldn’t be the first time that something like this happened.

In 2022, Lufthansa collectively punished Orthodox Jewish passengers on a flight for the actions of some, and a Lufthansa representative even said that “everyone has to pay for” the actions of a couple. Lufthansa ended up having to pay millions of dollars over that incident.

Bottom line

American Airlines is accused of kicking two Orthodox Jewish passengers off a flight from Cleveland to Washington. A 21-year-old passenger reportedly got on the crew’s nerves, after repeatedly bringing up how the tail was dented, and not following crew member instructions. Meanwhile a 17-year-old passenger was removed as well, despite the fact he didn’t know the other passenger, and had nothing to do with him.

An investigation should definitely be performed, and if it’s true that the 17-year-old was simply removed for his similar appearance, then some serious corrective action needs to be taken.

What do you make of this incident?