I withdraw my earlier post. I was not informed enough to make intelligant conjecture. My Bad!

Fear, I think it was fear more then rascism. 9/11 is still to fresh in the minds of flyers. That muslim family made a mistake chatting about "where the safest place on the plane was". They should have had that little conversation before boarding. Its the same as greeting a friend named Jack as you stuff your suitcase in the overhead compartment. "Hi Jack" would be an unwise choice of words. Any talk of explosions or where it would be safer, especially wearing traditional garb as those muslims were, was a mistake by them. The families insensitivity to American cultural norms was to blame. They did not walk softly, as they should in these times. The airline did the right thing.