Woman Kicked Off Flight Sues Airline

A woman who was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight in San Diego in March filed a discrimination suit against the airline on Thursday, court records show.

The lawsuit was filed by Irum Abbasi, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab on a Southwest flight to the Bay Area, who was removed from the plane because a flight attendant thought she overheard Abbasi saying “it’s a go” on her cell phone.

Abbasi claims she told a Verizon representative, “I’ve got to go.”

The airline quickly determined that Abbasi was not a security threat, but the pilot would not allow her to re-board the original flight.

Abbasi was offered a seat on a later flight, as well as a travel voucher, but the delay prevented the graduate student from conducting a scheduled experiment at San Jose State University.