Delta said it would defend itself against the family’s claims.
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Hisham Kassab and his two sons are suing Delta Air Lines over their removal from a 2019 flight.
The family are Muslim and Kassab believed it’s “possible that discriminatory attitudes played a role.”
Delta Air Lines said it intended to defend itself against the claims.
A Muslim family is suing Delta Air Lines over their “unjust” removal from a flight in 2019, per documents filed in the District Court of Maryland.
Hisham Kassab asserts that Delta staff and passengers made false claims against him, which resulted in him and his young children being removed from the flight.
The family argue that the action was “wrongful, unfair, unjust, malicious, and callous.”
Kassab and his sons Ibrahim and Karim, then aged 7 and 11, were traveling home from Rome, Italy, in August 2019 to Baltimore with a layover in Atlanta.
While waiting to board the Baltimore flight, Kassab entered into a discussion with a Delta gate agent, who he said was “being cantankerous.”
The family were initially permitted to board the plane, but shortly after taking their seats they were removed from the flight.
The Kassabs say they received no explanation of their removal and were asked to collect their possessions and follow a flight attendant off the plane. After doing so its door was “promptly closed”, leaving the Kassabs behind.
According to court documents, the flight’s captain decided to have the family removed because a gate agent, flight attendant, and some passengers all said that Kassab had used profanities in his discussion with the gate agent.
Kassab denies uttering any profanity and said he was “completely polite”, adding that his family’s conduct was “entirely benign, non-disruptive, and non threatening.”
The Kassabs are Muslims of Middle-Eastern origin. Per the lawsuit: “In the opinion of Plaintiff Hisham Kassab, it is possible that discriminatory attitudes played a role in the false claims against him and/or the decision to have the Plaintiffs removed from the airplane.”
Delta asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed and said it intended to defend itself against the claims. The airline’s lawyers are demanding “strict proof” of the allegations, and argued that the Kassabs had failed to state any claim that entitled them to compensation.
It is not known if the family were put on a later Delta flight.
A Delta spokesperson told Insider: “Delta has zero tolerance for discriminatory actions of any kind, but we will decline to comment specifically on this pending litigation.”