Overzealous AirTran Boots 9 Passengers Off

An anonymous readerwrites "On Friday the wonderfully customer centric AirTran decided to remove a family of 9 US born Muslims after a comment between two family members regarding how close to the Jet engine they had been seated. The wonderful part is that after the FBI cleared the family 2 hours later, AirTran refused to fly the family, and refused to rebook them on their way from Washington to Orlando, Florida. The family purchased additional tickets on US Airways later that day, after AirTran requested that the irate father be escorted from their booking podiums by security. This whole story highlights the pathetic customer service we are getting from the Airlines these days — they actually treat us like criminals first and ask questions later. Just don't get me started on Delta." It's nice to see that stupidity still knows no bounds.

Re:Discrimination

[morgan_greywolf]

I know what it feels like, being that I'm half black and half white. It's easy for people to shrug it off when it has never happened to them. Dirty looks, being spat on, racial slurs, etc. Fortunatly my experiences turned me into the strong person that I am today.

President-Elect Obama? Is that you?

Re:They got a refund

[Snarfangel]

3) A Chinese family of nine people get on the plane. They are dressed in clothing straight out of 1920's Shanghai. Three of the young adults in thick Chinese accents remark about where would be the safest place to sit on the plane in the event of an accident or explosion.

I'd be afraid they'd stop the plane, run around it, then get back in.

Re:They got a refund

[norminator]

Close your eyes. Picture a convict. What's he wearing? Nothing special, baseball cap on backwards, baggy pants... he says something ordinary like... 'yo, thats shizzle.' Okay. Now slowly open your eyes again. Who are you picturing? A black man? Wrong. That was a white woman. Surprised? Well, shame on you.

--Michael Scott

Re:They got a refund

[spiffmastercow]

Yeah! WASPs prefer Ryder trucks full of ammonium nitrate.

Yes they do. I often get a chill when I see a hick driving a moving van.

Re:Company name check...

[Mushdot]

I flew AirTrans once. The stewardesses didn't half have deep voices.

Re:They got a refund

[Facetious]

Me too. Sadly, it's probably one of my family members in the moving van.

Re:They got a refund

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Let's be real honest with each other here.

Huh, what, why?

I mean everybody.

Including me?

1) A white family of nine people get on a plane.

Well, I tossed an exception right there. White family of nine . . . that's actually really funny!

2) A brown family of nine people get on a plane.

No, they get booted from the plane.

3) A Chinese family of nine people get on the plane.

If the Chinese are leaving the country in such numbers, that means that the economy is going to hell in a hand-basket.

You have been warned.

Re:They got a refund

[spazdor]

Actually, Israelis are mostly pretty swarthy. They don't look that different from Palestinians.

Re:They got a refund

[Toonol]

God, that was a really stupid exercise. Close your eyes and picture someone in silky lingerie running a hand up your chest; you can smell their delicious perfume, as their soft lips brush your neck...

You're picturing a woman, right? Wrong! It's a man! You are so sexist.

Re:Open your mouth about security in an airport

[0100010001010011]

Don't fly next to an engineer. I constantly talk through failure modes. How much weight the joints have to handle.

And how C students usually get a job somewhere.

Re:They got a refund

[fartmasterB]

I had trouble reading the rest of the instructions after the "close your eyes" part.

Mormons

[Anonymous Coward]

1) A white family of nine people get on a plane.

Well, I tossed an exception right there. White family of nine . . . that's actually really funny!

Wait,

PolygamousRanchKid doesn't know about Mormons?

Re:Airtran Blows

[ColdWetDog]

My experience with AirTran was the worst flight I've ever been on. Bastards left us stranded in Atlanta for 8 hours.

It would have been worse if you were booked in the passenger cabin. Luggage usually makes it it's correct destination.

Re:Open your mouth about security in an airport

[Lemmy Caution]

And any discussion of Kevin Costner's box-office performance over the last couple of decades will put you on the no-fly list for life.

Re:Mulsim...

[daremonai]

... a significant number of Muslim countries are cesspools of racism, hatred, and violence.

Except most of the people in this group (all but one) are native U.S. citizens. So you only have a point if the U.S. is a "cesspool of racism, hatred and violence."

Oh, wait.

Re:They got a refund

[Anonymous Coward]

Scooby is that you man?

Re:Open your mouth about security in an airport

[Vexar]

Yo don't know how many times that sign has stopped me. First, I went in to one of those mega-churches and saw that gun ban sign. Totally bummed me out, and I left. Then, I got the idea I could do similar damage with a flamethrower. So, I spent all weekend going through Make.com for ideas, built my flame thrower, and made it over to the church to go kill some innocent people. Upon further inspection, it said "dangerous weapons." Foiled again. I'll tell you, for terrorism experts, those signs are really bad business. There's really no way around it without arousing suspicion at some point.

Re:Tip to arabs: don't wear towel on head in airpo

[McGiraf]

Good thing your name is not Rachid, or I would moderate you terrorist -1.

Re:Here's the bottom line:

[argStyopa]

Let's see...
Significant portion of entire post in CAPITAL LETTERS ... $0.00.
Liberal use of boldface, including aforementioned capital letters ... $0.00.
Seven sentences, six exclamation points ... $0.00.

The delicious irony of this post pointing out that someone (else) takes themselves way too seriously? PRICELESS!

Re:Company name check...

[Anonymous Coward]

AirTran - the 's' is for 'safety'.

Re:They got a refund

[fartrader]

ANY "family of nine" is going to seem damn peculiar on an
airline flight. It doesn't matter if it's the Brady Bunch.

The only family of nine that could possibly be suspicious would be the Nazgul. Anything else is narrow minded bigotry.