Update: Some people are calling for a complete boycott of Delta based on this story. More about why I think that’s premature.
Usually I’m enraged when I hear of people being kicked off planes for speaking Arabic, because discrimination is a very real thing. At the same time, here’s an instance where I’ll give the airline and other passengers the benefit of the doubt until a full investigation is done, given who we’re talking about.
Why? Because just a few days ago I wrote about Adam Saleh, a YouTuber who claimed to have flown in the cargo hold of a Tigerair Australia plane from Melbourne to Sydney, and videotaped the whole thing. However, as it turns out, the whole thing wasn’t real, and he actually flew in the cabin — the airline did a hilarious job calling him out.
You’d think he’d lay low for a bit, but now he’s back with his latest airline “story.” He just uploaded a video to Twitter of him being removed from a Delta flight this morning at London Heathrow:
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
His claim is that he got kicked off a Delta flight because he spoke Arabic, and because it made other passengers uncomfortable.
Supposedly Delta brought the police to speak to him and his travel companions, and also had them searched again:
UPDATE: Delta just brought the police to speak to us.
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
UPDATE: We're being security checked AGAIN right now.
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
Also, he’s going to see his lawyer as soon as he lands in NYC:
UPDATE: were taking off right now and heading to our lawyer once in NYC. Any inquiries email: [email protected]
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
So far Delta has issued the following statement regarding the incident:
“Two customers were removed from this flight and later rebooked after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort. We’re conducting a full review to understand what transpired. We are taking allegations of discrimination very seriously; our culture requires treating others with respect.”
Kudos to Delta for responding in the best way they can so far. It’s tough to know what really happened as of now, though:
- I’m more skeptical of a story told by someone who is a self proclaimed “professional idiot” and who lied just days ago about being in the cargo hold of a plane
- He claims that Delta representatives told him he was kicked off for being loud rather than for speaking Arabic
- While we’re not yet sure if it applies in this instance, one thing is for sure — a countless number of people have been removed from planes for speaking Arabic or for looking Middle Eastern, and that’s horrible
- The guy does social media for a living and knew this would be a big story, so he certainly had an incentive to let this play out as much as possible
So here’s to hoping he was just escalating the situation rather than this having been a legitimate case of discrimination. Delta as an airline takes stuff like this seriously, so I’m confident they’ll investigate this fairly.
Where do you stand — do you give him the benefit of the doubt given the number of times stuff like this happens, or do you for now give the airline the benefit of the doubt, given his stunt from a few days ago?
(Tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
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