captainv
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070831-1436-bn31airline.html
By Debbi Farr Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
2:36 p.m. August 31, 2007
SAN DIEGO – The woman whose concerns about a group of Middle Eastern passengers apparently caused a Tuesday night flight from San Diego to Chicago to be aborted contradicted the airline's account of the incident in an interview Friday. And six of the seven men involved in the incident have retained an attorney and want an apology.
Leigh Robbins, 35, of Richmond, Va., said she got off American Airlines Flight 590 bound for Chicago Tuesday night rather than take the flight with seven Middle Eastern men onboard.
She said their behavior made her nervous, and that she was scared for herself and her sons.
The airline said on Wednesday that returning the plane to the gate to let her off caused a delay that prevented the plane from taking off before the airport's 11:30 p.m. curfew.
But, according to Robbins, “The plane never left the terminal with me in it.” She said she was on the jet for less than five minutes, that the flight attendants had not yet given their safety talk when she got off.
As proof, she noted her hotel reservations for that night were booked at 11:16 p.m., just two minutes after the airline had said the plane had left the gate.
Airline officials did not return messages Friday.
Robbins said she now regrets the incident and wishes she could apologize to the men.
Aboard the plane
Robbins said she was seated in the last row of the plane before the doors closed when one of the group of men left his seat and went to the restroom. She said she heard him “clunking around” inside.
The man then came out and stood directly behind her. She saw that he was looking at the people on the plane, turning from left to right and right to left and “glaring.”
“He looked so mean, the way he was looking at everyone, it was very frightening, like something out of a movie,” she said.
She said she was alarmed by having the man stand behind her, and by the fact that his traveling companions were scattered throughout the plane.
“It traumatized me,” she said. “I can't describe how afraid I was.”
At that point she told the flight attendant she had to get off the plane. She said the attendant remarked that the men were strange.
She gathered up her sons and their things and left the plane. She said she never even heard any of the men speaking while they were on the plane, though she had chatted with one of them in the terminal.
About 20 minutes later, while she was at the ticket counter making hotel arrangements, an airline official came up to the counter and said the plane was returning to the gate, Robbins said. She said the official was angry and complained that the airline would now have to find hotels for everyone, Robbins said.
She left the airport before the rest of flight 590's passengers disembarked.
The men's side
When the rest of the passengers got off the plane, the group of seven Iraqi and Iraqi-American men were immediately separated from the rest of the passengers and questioned by authorities, said Lawrence Garcia, an attorney representing six of the men.
The men worked for a defense contractor and had been training U.S. Marines.
He said the men were baffled about why they were being questioned and felt embarrassed, that they were being treated like criminals.
David Al Watan, 30, of Dearborn, Mich., said he was the leader of the group of seven men. Al Watan said he's an American citizen who came to this country from a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia in 1994 after the first Gulf war. He is from Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, and fled the country in 1991. He said his mother was killed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
He said none of the men had any idea when the jet turned around that it had anything to do with them. After the jet taxied onto the runway, the pilot announced that there was a situation onboard and the plane would have to return to the gate.
When the Arabic-speaking men returned to the waiting area, they were taken aside by authorities and asked for identification. Garcia said they realized at that point that they were suspected of being terrorists.
“Everyone who didn't look like us went off and did whatever they wanted,” Al Watan said.
They showed the airport police officers their identification as well as certificates of appreciation for the work they had done. The officers told the men that it was all a mistake and apologized.
Al Watan said no one from the airlines spoke to them.
By Debbi Farr Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
2:36 p.m. August 31, 2007
SAN DIEGO – The woman whose concerns about a group of Middle Eastern passengers apparently caused a Tuesday night flight from San Diego to Chicago to be aborted contradicted the airline's account of the incident in an interview Friday. And six of the seven men involved in the incident have retained an attorney and want an apology.
Leigh Robbins, 35, of Richmond, Va., said she got off American Airlines Flight 590 bound for Chicago Tuesday night rather than take the flight with seven Middle Eastern men onboard.
She said their behavior made her nervous, and that she was scared for herself and her sons.
The airline said on Wednesday that returning the plane to the gate to let her off caused a delay that prevented the plane from taking off before the airport's 11:30 p.m. curfew.
But, according to Robbins, “The plane never left the terminal with me in it.” She said she was on the jet for less than five minutes, that the flight attendants had not yet given their safety talk when she got off.
As proof, she noted her hotel reservations for that night were booked at 11:16 p.m., just two minutes after the airline had said the plane had left the gate.
Airline officials did not return messages Friday.
Robbins said she now regrets the incident and wishes she could apologize to the men.
Aboard the plane
Robbins said she was seated in the last row of the plane before the doors closed when one of the group of men left his seat and went to the restroom. She said she heard him “clunking around” inside.
The man then came out and stood directly behind her. She saw that he was looking at the people on the plane, turning from left to right and right to left and “glaring.”
“He looked so mean, the way he was looking at everyone, it was very frightening, like something out of a movie,” she said.
She said she was alarmed by having the man stand behind her, and by the fact that his traveling companions were scattered throughout the plane.
“It traumatized me,” she said. “I can't describe how afraid I was.”
At that point she told the flight attendant she had to get off the plane. She said the attendant remarked that the men were strange.
She gathered up her sons and their things and left the plane. She said she never even heard any of the men speaking while they were on the plane, though she had chatted with one of them in the terminal.
About 20 minutes later, while she was at the ticket counter making hotel arrangements, an airline official came up to the counter and said the plane was returning to the gate, Robbins said. She said the official was angry and complained that the airline would now have to find hotels for everyone, Robbins said.
She left the airport before the rest of flight 590's passengers disembarked.
The men's side
When the rest of the passengers got off the plane, the group of seven Iraqi and Iraqi-American men were immediately separated from the rest of the passengers and questioned by authorities, said Lawrence Garcia, an attorney representing six of the men.
The men worked for a defense contractor and had been training U.S. Marines.
He said the men were baffled about why they were being questioned and felt embarrassed, that they were being treated like criminals.
David Al Watan, 30, of Dearborn, Mich., said he was the leader of the group of seven men. Al Watan said he's an American citizen who came to this country from a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia in 1994 after the first Gulf war. He is from Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, and fled the country in 1991. He said his mother was killed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
He said none of the men had any idea when the jet turned around that it had anything to do with them. After the jet taxied onto the runway, the pilot announced that there was a situation onboard and the plane would have to return to the gate.
When the Arabic-speaking men returned to the waiting area, they were taken aside by authorities and asked for identification. Garcia said they realized at that point that they were suspected of being terrorists.
“Everyone who didn't look like us went off and did whatever they wanted,” Al Watan said.
They showed the airport police officers their identification as well as certificates of appreciation for the work they had done. The officers told the men that it was all a mistake and apologized.
Al Watan said no one from the airlines spoke to them.
