NEW DELHI: Washington-based British Indian journalist and Al-Jazeera host Mehdi Hasan accused Southwest Airlines staff of racist and defamatory treatment.
Hasan— the former political editor for HuffPost UK, accused the flight attendant of threatening his wife in a headscarf, as the family flew from Houston to Washington DC.
In a series of tweets, Hasan said his wife wearing a headscarf, made a request to swap seats. But the flight attendant deliberately “escalated” the situation.
The incident left his wife in tears “because she wanted us all to sit together as a family while your flight attendant wanted to single her out and humiliate her,” The Intercept host said.
SouthwestAir responds
The Southwest Airlines sent a message to Hasan saying: “Thank you so much for reaching out to let us know about your and your wife’s experience last night, Mehdi. We take concerns about our Customer Service extremely seriously, and we would love to take a close look at this situation. Will you please DM your confirmation number?”
Not the first
This is not the first time Southwest Airlines criticized for such incidents.
In 2018, a former Black employee in Houston filed a lawsuit against the airline.
In 2015, it reportedly singled out Middle Eastern passengers heard talking in Arabic.