NEWARK (1010 WINS) -- American Airlines confirmed it was looking into an incident that ended with a Muslim woman being kicked off a plane and detained at Newark Liberty Airport on Saturday morning.
@PANYNJ Police escorted her off the plane in handcuffs!! pic.twitter.com/jDUQhZMwzG
— Jake (@yesjaketapia) November 14, 2020
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, an activist who ran in the Democratic primary in the 6th Congressional district this year and is the founder of MuslimGirl, said the trouble began when an "entitled white man" cut her in line as she was taking off her shoes in security. She said she told him to wait and "he started going off about how he's 'pre check' and 'first class.'"
It turned out the two of them were on the same flight. After boarding Al-Khatahtbeh said the man "made a complaint about me" and that she was told without explanation to leave the plane.
— Jake (@yesjaketapia) November 14, 2020
A passenger aboard the plane tweeted video of Al-Khatahtbeh demanding that the man be kicked off the plane as well.
"I'm not moving unless he's also moving. Otherwise, why are you taking his word over mine? Because he's in first class?" she can be heard saying in the video. "If you're kicking me off, you have to kick both of us."
That's when police got involved. Port Authority officials confirmed that a woman was briefly taken into custody by police and then released.
"The Port Authority's independent Inspector General has begun an investigation," officials said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it was demanding answers after the incident.
"Although we do not yet know all of the facts about this incident, we do know that American Airlines has a history of mistreating Muslim travelers," said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR National. "The airline must immediately explain why it singled out Amani by contacting the police and ejecting her from a flight based on the word of a man who had allegedly harassed her."
In a statement, American Airlines said it was looking into the allegations.
"We are aware of an incident that took place between two passengers before and during boarding of flight 2029 at Newark Liberty International Airport. We are concerned by these allegations and our team is working to understand what occurred," the airline said.
