US airline apologises to Indian-origin Muslim family

WASHINGTON: A US airline has apologised to members of an Indian-origin Muslim family including three children, who were off loaded from a plane after co-passengers overheard what they thought was a "suspicious" remark.
    
The family was not allowed to board the AirTran flight to Orlando from Washington after they were removed from the plane despite the FBI clearing them of any wrongdoing.
    
Kashif Irfan and his brother Atif, both Indian-Americans born in Detroit and based in Virginia, along with their wives, a sister and 3 children were removed from the filght before takeoff on Thursday after some passengers reported that one of them was discussing the safest place to travel in an airplane.
    
The airline refused to re-book the family despite FBI clearing them of any wrongdoing after interviewing them. Ultimately the FBI helped them book a flight on USAirways.
    
"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did," AirTran said in a statement on Friday evening. "But we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount."
    
The airline said it had refunded the family's money and offered to fly them back home to Washington free.
    
Kashif Irfan, a 34-year-old anesthesiologist, said he was "surprised" by AirTran's apology, CNN reported.
    
The AirTran statement was an abrupt about-face for the airline, which came three hours after it had issued a press release without an apology.

The dispute occurred as Kashif and Atif, a tax attorney, boarded the AirTran flight 175 at Reagan National Airport near Washington for a trip to Orlando, Florida.
    
Federal officials, quoted by the media here, said some passengers on the plane told a flight attendant about a "suspicious" conversation among the family members. The pilot then asked the air marshals to remove the passengers.
    
"The conversation, as we were walking through the plane trying to find our seats, was just about where the safest place in an airplane is," Inayet Sahin, Kashif's wife was quoted as saying by CNN.
    
"We were (discussing whether it was safest to sit near) the wing, or the engine or the back or the front. But that's it. We didn't say anything else that would raise any suspicion."
    
The conversation did not contain the words "bomb," "explosion," "terror" or other words that might have aroused suspicion, Atif, 29, said.
    
"When we were talking, when we turned around, I noticed a couple of girls kind of snapped their heads," Sobia Ijaz, Atif's wife, was quoted as saying.
    
"I kind of thought to myself, 'Oh, you know, may be they're going to say something.' It didn't occur to me that they were going to make it such a big issue."
    
Authorities first removed Atif and Sobia, then returned for the rest of the family. They also removed a family friend, Abdul Aziz, a Library of Congress attorney who was coincidentally taking the same flight and had been seen talking with the family.