muslim woman kicked off flight after flight attendant mistakenly hears her say "it's a go"

This is absolutely ridiculous. A Pakistani American woman is suing Southwest Airlines for being kicked off her flight after a flight attendant reported hearing her say "it's a go" to someone on the phone: Muslim Woman: Airline Booted Me After Flight Attendant Falsely Thought I Said 'It's A Go' On The Phone.

According to Irum Abbassi, she was unlawfully removed from a Southwest Airlines flight going from San Diego to San Jose last March. She was on the plane talking on her phone, and when the plane was ready for take off, she said "I've got to go." You know, because you can't be on the phone during a flight. It's da rules.

But that's the thing, isn't it? We now live in a world where jumpy-ass people get spooked when a woman, who happens to be Muslim and wearing a hijab, says something as innocuous as "I've got to go" on the phone. I can't imagine that a non-brown passenger would have been the subject of similar scrutiny.

Abbasi, a graduate student in psychology at San Jose State, claims Southwest Airlines kicked her off a March 13 flight from San Diego to San Jose because of the stewardess' complaint. She says she was "readily identifiable as Muslim by what she wore" on Flight 1950: "a long shirt, pants, sweater and hijab, or Islamic headscarf."

She says she was selected for secondary screening after passing through a metal detector, patted down, and allowed to board the flight.

The flight was scheduled to depart at 8:15 a.m. At 8:17 a.m., the pilot announced there would be an "administrative delay."

A Transportation Security Authority agent then came aboard and pulled her off the plane.

Abbasi says that a 3-minute conversation with the TSA agent persuaded him that she was "no security risk," and that the door to Flight 1950 was still open, but she was not allowed to reboard "because the crew was 'uncomfortable' with her on the plane, and that the captain had discretion to make that final call."

Abassi's lawsuit seeks punitive damages for "discrimination based on race, religion, color, ethnicity, alienage, ancestry, and/or national origin, breach of contract, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress." More here: Citizen-Muslim Sues Southwest Airlines.