AirTran Apologizes to Detained Muslim Passengers

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I'm surprised nobody else has posted anything about this story. I'd been ready to start this discussion several days ago but somehow it got lost in my pile of possible topics and forgotten until now! http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/us_world/Group-9-Muslims-Kicked-Off-DC-Flight.html On New Years Day a group of nine Muslims, most of them from one family, were traveling from Washington D.C. to Orlando, Florida when they were kicked off the plane due to something another passenger overheard one of them saying and found to be suspicious. "We were talking about seat placement," one of the detained passengers said. "We were in the back ... started talking about safest place to sit. Maybe someone gleaned into that that we were planning to do something to the plane." Here's more from the above article: "At departure time, the captain informed the airline that there were two federal air marshals on board who contacted local Washington law enforcement officials for a security related issue on board the aircraft involving verbal comments made by a passenger and overheard by other passengers. The airline then advised the Transportation Security Administration. "Upon arriving at the gate and interrogating several passengers, the TSA determined that the 104 passengers on board must deplane and all passengers, crew and bags should be re-screened. After the re-screening of the passengers, crew, bags and the aircraft, 95 passengers were allowed to re-board the aircraft and nine were detained for interrogation by the local law enforcement officials and the TSA. Flight 175 departed nearly two hours late and arrived safely at its destination. AirTran Airways complied with all TSA, law enforcement and Homeland Security directives and had no discretion in the matter." AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident a misunderstanding but defended the company's response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong. CAIR said the passengers who were detained were refused re-booking by the airline despite being cleared by federal authorities. "The FBI agents actually cleared our names," Inayet Sahin, one of the family members kicked off the flight, told CNN. "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused." Hutcheson said the passengers were given a full refund and are welcome to fly on AirTran now that the investigation is complete. He and a federal Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said the pilot was right to postpone the flight. (End of excerpt) I'm actually a big fan of AirTran Airlines but this story disturbed me a bit. I'm not disputing that they were right in detaining the passengers to begin with because you can't be too careful these days but once the FBI agents cleared them and told AirTran they were clear to fly they still wouldn't allow them back on board and the family was forced to get tickets to fly on another airline. What do you think? Annie