Idiot air passenger fears Sikh man is a terrorist

These snaps should give you a sense of what it's like for anyone who appears to be Muslim to travel by plane.



The thing about commercial air travel is that you never know what kind of weird or awful or questionable people you're going to be forced to fly with. For instance, this recent flight where a Sikh man boarded the plane. No, I'm not calling the Sikh passenger weird or awful or questionable. I'm talking about the asshole who freaked out over the sight of a guy with a turban and beard and broadcast his racist assumptions on social media.

Because a guy who looks like that could definitely be a terrorist, right? This jerk recently documented his ridiculous prejudice and paranoia on Snapchat, posting photos of the Sikh passenger seated nearby, taken surreptitiously over the course of the flight, chronicling his activities with fearful commentary like, "Please god just let the man sleep" and "Ok he just walk to the back of the Plane then to the front then to his seat."

Screen grabs of the Snapchat posts were shared on social media by educator and activist Simran Jeet Singh, who is also Sikh and is all too familiar with the "uncomfortable stares" of fellow passengers in an era of heightened Islamophobia. And yet Singh tries to show compassion even when faced with such ignorance.

"This series of snaps should give you a sense of what it's like for anyone who appears to be Muslim to travel by plane," Singh wrote in a series of tweets. "As a Sikh who flies frequently, I'm no stranger to the uncomfortable stares and misguided fears people have of me."

Aasif Mandvi's Flying Safety Guide for Brown People

A Handy Safety Demonstration



Just in time to hit the road for the holidays... Everyone hates flying, but brown people have it especially rough. In this handy instructional video, Aasif Mandvi shows brown people how to blend in with the white folks, get through security unaccosted -- allow 8 to 10 hours -- and actually catch their flight.

The Daily Show's Tips for Flying While Muslim

Hasan Minhaj demonstrates how Muslims can fly without terrifying their fellow travelers.



Ah, Flying While Brown. After a college student was recently kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight simply for speaking Arabic -- shout out to all you racist, idiotic air passengers who get freaked by the sight of a brown face and the sound of a "foreign" tongue -- The Daily Show with Trevor Noah's Hasan Minhaj made a handy pre-flight video demonstrating how Muslims can fly without terrifying their fellow travelers.

"If you speak Arabic, don't. It's a scary language." Hasan advises. "But don't not speak either, because that's also super suspicious."

Waris Ahluwalia flies home, ending standoff over turban

Aeromexico apologizes to Sikh American actor, promising changes in security procedure.



Victory. On Wednesday morning, after a two-day standoff in Mexico City, Sikh American actor, designer and activist Waris Ahluwalia boarded an Aeromexico flight back home to the United States.

Sikh Actor Is Allowed to Fly Home to U.S. Wearing His Turban

The airline initially barred Ahluwalia from flying because he refused to remove his turban, an article of his Sikh faith. But after Waris took a stand, calling for better sensitivity and training regarding passengers with religious headwear -- attracting a ton of media attention in the process -- Aeromexico relented.

After spending two extra days grounded in Mexico City, Ahulwalia was allowed to board a new Aeroméxico flight without removing his turban for a security check. In addition to issuing an apology to Ahluwalia, the airline agreed to initiate staff training about how to deal with passengers wearing religious head coverings.

Waris Ahluwalia barred from flight because of his turban

Sikh actor and designer denied entry into Aeromexico flight back to New York.



On Monday, celebrity Sikh American fashion designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia was barred from boarding his AeroMexico flight home from Mexico City to New York City because he refused to remove his turban.

Turban-Wearing Sikh American Actor Is Barred From Aeroméxico

Ahluwalia, who wears a turban in observance of his Sikh faith, says he was flagged for a secondary security check. He was held back until all other passengers had boarded the 7:15 AM Aeroméxico flight out of Mexico City. Security personnel searched his bag, swabbed him and patted him down.

When they asked Ahluwalia to take off his turban, he refused.

Hari Kondabolu wants TSA reparations

Brown Man's Payback



The Transportation Security Administration recently unveiled a program allowing air passengers to be pre-screened, avoiding the usual airport security inconveniences -- for a small fee. Okay, great. The TSA is loosening up. But that's not good enough for Totally Biased correspondent Hari Kondabolu. In this edition of The KondaBulletin, Hari outlines what he'd like to see: TSA Reparations

Hindu guy makes the mistake of traveling on Ramadan

This week in Flying While Brown.



I've lost track of how many frustrating, mind-melting accounts I've read of innocent brown folks getting profiled, hassled and mistreated by airport security while traveling, just trying to get to wherever the hell they're going. Here's one more infuriating account from Aditya Mukerjee: JetBlue Refuses To Let Hindu Man Board Flight During Ramadan, Concerned About His "Disposition."

Mukerjee, who is Hindu, was traveling from New York City to Los Angeles to vacation with his family. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of flying during the Muslim holiday Ramadan -- I repeat, he is Hindu, not Muslim, and not that it friggin' matters -- which he believes ultimately got him detained for hours and questioned by the TSA, NYPD, FBI and Homeland Security. And yes, he missed his flight.

After going through the gauntlet of inane interrogation by all those agencies, it was ultimately the airline, JetBlue, that booted Mukerjee off the flight. He detailed the day's entire shitty experience in an infuriating blog post entitled Don't Fly During Ramadan.