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AMERICAN HOLDS FIRM ON
PROTECTING THE SAFETY OF ITS PASSENGERS
American Airlines today
said it would not be deterred from protecting the safety of its
passengers by frivolous claims of racial profiling asserted by the
Washington, D.C. law firm of Relman & Associates.
The company said:
"American carries out its security obligations according to the
guidelines provided by the Federal government. Those guidelines are
applied equally among all passengers, and the company vigorously
resents any suggestion of racial discrimination.
"Threats of lawsuits
will not deter us from justly applying the security programs
established to protect the tens of millions of customers who entrust
us with their lives each year."
American finds the
"facts" released by the law firm today surprising and
irresponsible since the firm has not discussed this incident with any
American Airlines employee involved. Airline employees said the
passenger, an armed Secret Service agent, behaved inappropriately.
The airline said that,
while it also would prefer to resolve this situation in an amicable
way, it cannot allow misleading information to go uncorrected.
American therefore feels
obligated to release the attached copies of incident reports filed by
the captain of Flight 363 and the manager of the airline’s System
Operations Control center who spoke directly with the passenger.
"These reports paint a
clear and consistent picture of what occurred during this agent’s
attempt to board Flight 363," the airline said. "While
we’ll let the reports speak for themselves, we will reiterate that
American will not allow any armed individual onboard, regardless of
who he or she is, if that person is angry or acting in a manner that
the crew believes could jeopardize the safety of the flight."
American can confirm that,
as stated in the captain’s report, he has filed a letter of
complaint with the Secret Service.
As this incident is now
under investigation by the Secret Service, American cannot comment
beyond this statement.
Text of Captain’s
Statement
Misconduct of Armed Passenger
Debrief Detail:
Armed passenger * flight
363 BWI/DFW. Flight was scheduled to leave at 1715. I was notified
that due to a mechanical at the next gate - they would hold our push
for approximately 30-40 minutes to try to accommodate those pax going
to DFW. A few moments later the *1 flt attendant brought to my
attention that she and other flt att were concerned about the actions
of one of the pax. This pax left the aircraft with carryon bags still
in his seat. He told the flt att. Please don’t leave without him.
While the pax was away a flt att observed books in the individuals
seat which were written in what she assessed was Arabic style print.
Upon further investigation - when the individual came back it was
determined that he was in fact our ‘armed passenger’. I then
decided to stop my pre-flt and review the AA E2. The form was
unreadable because it was a carbon-copy and there were missing items.
I then had the agent come back and recheck his credentials and give me
a new AA E2. Again this form was filled out improperly. I left my seat
to speak to the individual. He appeared nervous and anxious. With all
the forms that I received in error I determined that the most prudent
course of action was to call dispatch to phone patch me to the SOC. I
asked them to fax me a copy of what the Secret Service credentials
looks like. He advised me that BWI should have this information. BWI
in fact does not. We still were accommodating the connecting
passengers and had time to further determine the proper credentials of
this person. While all this was going on the individual approached me
in front of the lead agent and asked why he was being denied boarding
for so long. I disclosed to him that the paper work was not correct
and that I needed to have this fixed before he would be accommodated.
This was an AA issue and none of his concern. At this time the
individual became very hostile with me. Upon all the information that
I had up to this point - I had doubt as to his actual representation
as a Special Agent for the Secret Service. 1. *Two improperly filled
out AA Form E2. 2. *Flt atts bringing to my attention what appeared to
be strange behavior. 3. *Hostility toward me for trying to correct my
required paper work. I then had the Maryland Airport Authority police
determine his proper ID by calling the Secret Service as to his
legitimate status. This took about ten minutes to complete. In the
interim I was given a third improperly filled out AA Form E2. This had
no signature of the LEO. No initial as to the traveling status of the
officer. No phone number. While the police were determining the proper
status of this individual this person came up to me with loud abusive
comments as to his being denied boarding. That he has the powers of
the White House behind him and that this is not of [sic] the end of
this matter. The police agreed with me that there was a legitimate
concern because of his unprofessional behavior. This was all in full
view of every passenger boarding the flight. He then said he would not
board the flt. As it turned out he was an actual LEO. After the events
of 9/11 and another of our fls targeted with explosives and causing
injury to a flt att I absolutely felt correct in having this
individuals [sic] identification validated. After three improper AA
Form E2s [sic] and the behavior of this individual, I needed to be
100% sure of his credentials. If he just let us do our job of getting
the paper work in order, he would have been boarded, and it would have
been a pleasure to carry an ‘armed passenger’. With the lives of
the entire passengers and crew, I was uncomfortable with his actions
and did what a Captain should do and edge toward the side of safety
and not move the aircraft until I’m confident that all issues are
satisfied before taking off. As a note, I am filling [sic] a
misconduct report with the Secret Services Internal Affairs division.
I would suggest that AA Security follow up on this matter because this
individual made the entire crew uncomfortable with his actions and
absolutely with his confrontational behavior toward me. The police
officer who was very helpful was officer (redacted). The case # was
(redacted). The Secret Service Agent’s name was (redacted).
Passports and fraudulent IDs can easily be altered to look passable.
With all the items to this event not adding up, I absolutely believe I
acted in the best interest of my crew, pax and AA.
Text of SOC Manager’s
Statement:
I was working as Center
Manager on Christmas and received a call from Captain
(employee number ) flying
flight 363 from BWI/DFW. The Captain had a concern about a passenger
onboard his flight. The Captain first requested a fax containing all
wanted terrorist photos that American had available. I explained that
this was not possible and asked exactly what problem he was
encountering. He said that he received paperwork for a passenger that
stated he was a Secret Service Agent and would be traveling armed. The
Captain said that the paperwork contained scratched out flight numbers
and may have been altered. I then suggested that the Captain request
new paperwork. The Captain called back again and stated the he was
still questioning the validity of this passenger working for the
Secret Service because the secret service agent had failed to fill the
paperwork out properly again. I asked if he had looked at the agent
credentials. He said you work for the airline, you know how easy it
would be to get fake I.D. I suggested that I could call the Secret
Service and verify that this passenger was in fact an agent. I asked
the Captain to request the agent’s superiors [sic] name and number.
The Captain said that we should not use his information because he
could have a friend answering the phone when we called. I then
suggested get the local police to verify the I.D. since, being located
at BWI, they would have exposure to Secret Service I.D.’s and
contact phone numbers. The next phone call I received was from the AA
ticket agent at BWI. He said that the Secret Service agent had
verbally abused the Captain and that the Captain was denying him
boarding. I asked to speak to the police officer that was witness to
this, who then verified what the ticket agent had stated. Based on
this, I then decided to end boarding to this passenger on future AA
flights. Later, I received a call from the AA ticket agent at BWI and
was asked to talk to this Secret Service Agent. I then heard the
Secret Service Agent’s side of the story. He admitted to not
properly filling out the paperwork for carrying a weapon; not once,
but twice. He also admitted to losing his temper with the Captain
because he was asked for his ID five separate times. When he asked why
he was denied future boarding, I explained that I could not expose AA
crews or passengers to abuse. He said he was being discriminated
against, wanted my bosses [sic] name, and threatened that he would
have my job. He was going to take this to the highest authority. I
asked for his superior’s name and contacted him. I explained the
situation to the superior. He confirmed that this man did work for the
Secret Service, and would contact him. A short time later the
agent’s superior called back and said that he was sorry for losing
his temper and would like to travel out of DCA the next day. He then
stated that the agent was of Middle Eastern descent. I explained to
the superior that I did not know this and that there was no
discrimination in the denied boarding process with SOC. I was 1,000
miles away from the situation and handled it as we would for any
unruly passenger. We agreed the agent could travel the next day.
SOC Center Manager –
American Airlines
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