A US Airways plane prepares for take off at Charlotte Airport. (Photo for illustrative purposes only)
A group of students from the UAE is demanding an apology from US Airways after being removed from a flight and questioned by authorities, it was reported on Saturday.
Members of the group told US media that they were removed from the flight from Charlotte to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and questioned by police, causing a delay of more than four hours.
Local TV in Charlotte reported that a US Airways official said a "security issue" caused several passengers to be rescreened before the flight was allowed to take off.
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But several members of the group, who were headed to Washington for a conference, are demanding an apology from the airline.
"We want an apology and an explanation to why they took us off the plane and then left us there," Yaqoob Al-Shamsi, one of the passengers removed from the flight, told ABC7 News.
"We were emotionally hurt. We want them to tell people that they didn't do anything."
Group members claimed that authorities even asked if they had previous military training or experience.
"We were told to get our bags and leave the plane," Hadef Al-Dhaheri was quoted as saying. "I only saw my friends being taken off. They picked certain people. We have a purpose here. I felt so bad because they treated us differently than others. We didn't expect this treatment from them."
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Dec 4, 2011 , United Arab Emirates
What if UAE authorities had removed US citizens from a flight for security reasons ??? the whole world would have raised questions about our measures and they would have asked for apology as well, I support your request for an apology with a proper explanation as why they picked Middle Eastern lo...
Dec 3, 2011 , United Arab Emirates
this is not the first time, i was at the airport with homeland security for 5 hours and i missed the connecting flight and it was a whole mess. the reason given was just that for some security reasons, i dont understand this racisim.