Aviation securityMuslim woman removed from flight over misheard phone call

A Muslim-American woman is suing Southwest Airlines after she was removed from a flight in March for a misheard phone conversation.

Irum Abbassi, a mother of three and U.S. citizen, was aboard a flight preparing to take off from San Diego’s International Airport when a flight attendant told security personnel she had overheard Abbassi say “It’s a go” into her cell phone.

Abbassi was immediately removed from the flight and searched by law enforcement officials. She explained that she had said, “I’ve got to go” to a Verizon representative who she was on the phone with at the time.

Authorities allowed her to make her way back to the airplane, but the flight’s crew refused to allow Abbassi back on board. She was forced to take the next flight and Abbassi is now suing Southwest Airlines for the “humiliating” incident.

According to the lawsuit, Abbassi, a psychology graduate student at San Jose State University, felt “horrified, embarrassed, humiliated, and confused” by the incident.

James McElroy, Abbassi’s lawyer, accused Southwest Airlines of discriminating against his client because of her appearance.

“Suspicions were aroused because of her religion. She would not have been removed from the plane if she had been a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman,” McElroy argued.