The biggest airline story of the day has been about a YouTube prankster who got kicked off a Delta flight from London to New York this morning. I shared my initial impressions of the situation, and then wrote a follow-up post about why I think it’s too soon to point fingers at/boycott Delta, given this guy’s history.
We got kicked out of a @Delta airplane because I spoke Arabic to my mom on the phone and with my friend slim… WTFFFFFFFF please spread pic.twitter.com/P5dQCE0qos
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
The prankster who was kicked off the plane has a history of lying about what happened on planes, and even of lying about being discriminated against.
Earlier today Delta issued the following statement regarding the situation:
We take all allegations of discrimination seriously and we are gathering all of the facts before jumping to any conclusion. Our culture requires treating everyone with respect. Furthermore, Delta people are trained to and frequently handle conflicts between passengers.
Maintaining a safe, comfortable and orderly onboard environment is paramount for every flight and requires the cooperation of all of our customers in conjunction with adherence to directions from our crew members. This is a Delta policy and is required by U.S. regulations as well as others governing aviation worldwide.
Two customers were removed from Delta Flight 1 departing London-Heathrow today after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort.
We have spoken with the customers who were removed; they were rebooked on another flight. Plans are in place to immediately speak with our crew and other passengers when the flight lands this afternoon. We will provide an update once we have more information.
Now that the plane in question has landed in New York and the crew has been debriefed and multiple reports were collected from passengers, the following statement was issued:
Upon landing the crew was debriefed and multiple passenger statements collected. Based on the information collected to date, it appears the customers who were removed sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behavior, including shouting. This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight. While one, according to media reports, is a known prankster who was video recorded and encouraged by his traveling companion, what is paramount to Delta is the safety and comfort of our passengers and employees. It is clear these individuals sought to violate that priority.
So that’s at least some update, and I suspect we’ll learn a lot more over the next few hours and days as more passengers share their version of what happened.
Bottom line
I still think it’s too early to draw any conclusions about the incident, but at least Delta is taking the situation seriously, and is acting quickly. Given what we know, it sounds like the passenger was being disruptive. What we don’t yet know is whether there was any discrimination against his race or language.
In other words, what was the order of events? Was he discriminated against and then he acted out? Did he act out and then maybe a passenger made a racial slur? Was race not a factor here, but rather the guy was just acting crazy and looking to cause problems?
There are many ways this could play out, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Ben and many of you have fallen into the easy trap, but our media makes that easy for us. On the plane it became the Madding Crowd.
Two passengers were quoted in the NY Times. Check their comments before making a decision on this event.
The women who started the problem was sitting in front of the guys speaking Arabic. She got upset hearing it, complained and then the ball started to roll....
Ben and many of you have fallen into the easy trap, but our media makes that easy for us. On the plane it became the Madding Crowd.
Two passengers were quoted in the NY Times. Check their comments before making a decision on this event.
The women who started the problem was sitting in front of the guys speaking Arabic. She got upset hearing it, complained and then the ball started to roll. This lady passenger who complained WAS NOT removed from the flight, which is UNFAIR by Delta because she was involved in the incident and if authorities and/or Delta wanted the full story, they needed both parties.
I am waiting for this to happen to the Jewish guy with beard speaking Yiddish on his phone and to his colleague. There are similarities in the languages.
We live in a country where we firmly believe dark skin people do not have back seats on buses, separate drinking fountains (our constitution). We gotta let people speak their language and they not be held for an offense for speaking their language.
Ben your travels around the world have not brought you evolvement, nor respect for the truth. You have shown your biased love for Delta. Shame on you Ben. Tsk Tsk.
@ David
To all the folks cheering his removal, I can tell none of you ever faced racial discrimination or had to fly a plane being self conscious of how others perceived you lest you be misinterpreted and kicked off or worse.
Or maybe you have never been on a plane with an unruly passenger and fail to understand why those around him/her/them would want them removed for their safety and/or comfort?
Isn't it...
@ David
To all the folks cheering his removal, I can tell none of you ever faced racial discrimination or had to fly a plane being self conscious of how others perceived you lest you be misinterpreted and kicked off or worse.
Or maybe you have never been on a plane with an unruly passenger and fail to understand why those around him/her/them would want them removed for their safety and/or comfort?
Isn't it interesting how a Youtuber made famous for FAKING instances claiming Islamophobia , gets on a plane and is removed from the flight claiming it's because he and his companion were speaking Arabic. I mean, this is a guy who hired an actor to play a big old mean racist/bigoted/ ect LEO and put the video on Youtube accusing the NYC PD discrimination, but there is NO WAY, he would plan to act out in a manner that would cause others around him to be annoyed- and then claim it was because they are all racists- because that would be intellectually dishonest....he clearly has too much integrity for something like that.
Delta should sue him and this guy should never be allowed to step on a plane again. He is a complete tool and does not deserve the privilege of flying. He has now done this multiple times.
1. Manufacture a fake hate crime
2. Facts come out showing he's completely wrong and is a tool
3. Posts some videos about it
4. Get a crap ton of money from clicks on that video
Put him on the no fly list.
People need to act appropriately for the situation. Loudly speaking in any language could be seen as a problem. Act appropriately on a plane. If I'm in a country more hostile toward English speakers then maybe walking around shouting in English isn't the best thing to do. From the pieces I've read and seen it seems like these guys were there to get a reaction from Delta...
I think it's admirable that Delta is the nearly real-time updates on the situation.
aaaah the donald trumpinisation of your country continues at full steam.
Some of these comments - WOW - just WOW!
Good for Delta. We all agree on a basic social compact when we enter a public place. Air travel is streesful to many so a disruptive passenger should be left on the ground.
We have way too many social justice warriors calling out corporate america or whitey for discrimination that just is not their.
On a somewhat related note, I am wondering if the number of "pranksters" and obnoxious people (for lack of a better term) has exponentially increased or the media pays too much attention to them.
This story about the prankster should not make the headlines in my opinion.
I also think there are always 2 sides to every story, and the truth.
We no longer have Air Marshals--we have 80's pop sensation Richard Marx.
@Helga
Delta did do something about that a**hole Trump supporter; they banned his ignorant ass for life. And Delta needs to do the same to this social media darling; he's just as bad as that Trump supporter.
What a bunch of racist, prejudiced commentors in these threads.
Benot really should be proud.
Totally agree with Craig.
How come Delta didn't do anything when that Trump supporter was shouting and insulting people?
Was it because he was white?
How is this ok?
Everyone on here has been very quick to judge that this was a set up
And done on purpose given the guy appears to be a professional prankster. However what if he is like the boy who cried wolf and this time he really was discriminated against?. Everyone just thinks 'oh well he deserved to be kicked off' We don't know what happened and we might never know but there appears to be a...
Everyone on here has been very quick to judge that this was a set up
And done on purpose given the guy appears to be a professional prankster. However what if he is like the boy who cried wolf and this time he really was discriminated against?. Everyone just thinks 'oh well he deserved to be kicked off' We don't know what happened and we might never know but there appears to be a tendency nowadays to go to the end solution immediately (I.e. Kick the guy off the flight) rather than attempt to diffuse the situation by calmly talking to the passenger to say 'calm down now or you won't be able to travel with us today'. We saw a video the other week of a trump supporter screaming at other pax on a flight but did he get kicked off? No he did not. He was white and did that have a bearing on what happened. Maybe. I'm sure that might have been Delta too. The airline needs to be consistent and apply same
Rules to every passenger regardless of ethnicity.
What's happened to the Air-Marshall's these days ? .. Wished he got hia a@@ Tasered the pea-nut !, throw him on the No-fly list , actually probably better to revoke his ESTA for all eternity ...
If I were the PIC on the flight he was rebooked on, Id say - no thx, he is not getting on my aircraft. Based on the history of this guy, there is a risk of disruption in flight and I woulnt want that, especially not on a flight far from diversion airports.
The PIC can deny anyone he or she thinks is a possible safety risk.
Those days Arabs making terrorist attacks worldwide so it's understandable why the crew were afraid. if he have any problem, so he won't choose flying Delta again. That's all.
"To all the folks cheering his removal, I can tell none of you ever faced racial discrimination or had to fly a plane being self conscious of how others perceived you lest you be misinterpreted and kicked off or worse."
Well, in part due to mild autism, I'm pretty much self-conscious of how others perceive me everywhere I am. As I child, I acted out and got in a lot of trouble for it. That's why as an adult, I don't act like a jack-a**.
I can see lot of racist people here who will be reacting the same way if a fellow passenger was speaking Arabic,most american are becoming inconfortable to this and that.
They guy said he will be contacting his lawyer and i guess there must be video recording.
Being an idiot,prankster,liar is no reason to remove him ,how many times i have to fly with white drunk loud guy and no one seems to...
I can see lot of racist people here who will be reacting the same way if a fellow passenger was speaking Arabic,most american are becoming inconfortable to this and that.
They guy said he will be contacting his lawyer and i guess there must be video recording.
Being an idiot,prankster,liar is no reason to remove him ,how many times i have to fly with white drunk loud guy and no one seems to be bothered,after all its in white culture to be with drunk white disturbing annoying guy and its fine.
Lucky you should be neutral whatever your thinking is but you took side from the beginnig before any facts errupt,anyway the damage is done for Delta and Londoners are outraged to allow racist american co. Behave in our soil with the same stinking disgusting way they do in the US,for americans with tight Ass mind stay at home and dont bring your racism to our city London.
The best part is when he brags about having a SkyMiles account LOL
Yeah, I should withhold judgment until there's a clearer idea of exactly what happened. But this guy is a professional liar. He stages outrageous situations--jeez, just like this one!--for entertainment purposes. He is so morally depraved that he would try to capitalize upon the discrimination confronting Arabic speaking individuals. He'd do anything to get just a few more hits on his youtube channel.
@Credit Not sure how your comment has to do with anything here, you need to chill.
The guy is obviously an abnoxious kid trying to get famous, no question about that.
But could this be a new kind of activism? Fabricating news based on real incidents to gain more attention to a cause? If it is, I'm opposed to it.
F*** that stupid loser - ban him from DL, put him on the no-fly list for not only being a class-A douchebag, but also making it that much harder to correctly identify and correct cases of racism and discrimination. Useless f-ing dipshit
Stop crying Roro, the white people in the back waving him to say bye because they agreed the jerk should be removed from the plane due to his bad behavior. Delta I love you for what you have done to this idiot.
What 20 people? Come on now they want to put the blame on Adam when they saw the situation turned against them. I dont see 20 people standing up and complaining about his behavior. I only see white people in the back waving bye bye to him as if they were saying get the hell out. This is deifinitely racism. Delta wont admit to their wrongdoing because they know if they do, nobody would want...
What 20 people? Come on now they want to put the blame on Adam when they saw the situation turned against them. I dont see 20 people standing up and complaining about his behavior. I only see white people in the back waving bye bye to him as if they were saying get the hell out. This is deifinitely racism. Delta wont admit to their wrongdoing because they know if they do, nobody would want to get on Delta anymore. They're now trying to make it look like Adam was disrespectful. Screw you Delta
He's crying because someone stood up to his bullshit. The guys is a loser. IT IS NOT HARD. Sit the F$&K down, shut the F$&K up and ride home. But he didn't, so they threw his ass off. I'll be loyal to delta for life just for this.
@Ben - The narrative is already written. Delta by proxy is saying his reaction to being kicked off the plane is justification for being kicked off the plane. I see Delta covering their ass by being misleading instead of addressing the root cause.
To all the folks cheering his removal, I can tell none of you ever faced racial discrimination or had to fly a plane being self conscious of how others perceived you lest you be misinterpreted and kicked off or worse.
Put him on the ban list. You dont act like that on the plane! He want attention and he got it!
Delta should BFL him in a big public announcement. And @Tony +1 on the SSSS.
This type of prankster behavior should be reason for him to be on a no fly list. It cost people and the airline money if there was a delay....misconnections, etc, etc.
I hope he gets SSSS on his BP for the rest of his flying days.
Wonder if Delta has the courage and their CEO will come out and publicly ban these two the way they correctly banned the Trump supporter for being too disruptive recently. My guess is their PC police department won't allow it to happen since the fools in question are Arabs.
Now the American government should take up with Saudi kingdom to allow women in bikinis anywhere in Saudi Arabia.
If they want to push burqa acceptance in the USA, they need to accept women walking around in bikinis there.
Tolerance is a two way street.
Around here, we don't do #boycottdelta we do #deathtoskypesos
If in fact this was someone trying to fabricate hostility then they've done a grave disservice to those of us who face discrimination on a regular basis. This is no joke and if it's determined that they were acting out of malice towards the airline or the other passengers, or using them to forward an agenda, they should be prosecuted. Anyone who thinks they can do this and suffer no consequences is wrong, and it's...
If in fact this was someone trying to fabricate hostility then they've done a grave disservice to those of us who face discrimination on a regular basis. This is no joke and if it's determined that they were acting out of malice towards the airline or the other passengers, or using them to forward an agenda, they should be prosecuted. Anyone who thinks they can do this and suffer no consequences is wrong, and it's hurting people who face real discrimination. Thanks for keeping your story to the facts, Ben, we need more truth tellers in this day and age.
This idiot should be placed on the "No Fly List" in every airline so next time he will make a video on a Greyhound bus.
This is a great example of the injustices that can occur in an era of 24-hour news and social media A person's life - or a company's reputation - can be ruined by one tweet. I think that's a fair statement before we find out whether it was the fault of company employees, fellow passengers, the "professional prankster" himself, or even some in-between gray area.
What a loser! Ban him from flying for life, deport him back to where he came from. Loser of the century goes to him.
@swy19 You nailed it! I'm sure that one poster guy will pipe in again with his distorted reality though....
GOOD FOR DELTA. Thank you. Finally someone telling the Political Correctness Police to suck it.
So now we're getting upset that someone trying to be discriminated against was discriminated against. What a world we live in...