CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After a five hour delay, U.S. Airways Flight 1768 took off Thursday night from Charlotte Douglas International Airport bound for Washington D.C.
The airline says the flight was delayed because of security concerns. According to passenger Valerie Crotty, the pilot was worried about a group of students from the United Arab Emirates.
"These kids should not have been abused in that way on passenger paranoia," said Crotty.
She believes one passenger was to blame.
"Went to the pilot and said these students are placed in such a way to try and take control of the plane because they are in the back, the middle, the front...and then at that point the pilot panicked."
Yaqoob Alshamsi and his friend were two of the nine students.
"They asked me if I was ex-military or have I taken any military training," said Alshamsi.
After hours of interrogation, the students were allowed back on the plane.
"We feel insulted. I don’t feel angry but in the beginning I felt really angry."
The students felt like they were profiled and want an apology from U.S. Airways. Jibril Hough, a leader in Charlotte’s Muslim community, believes they should get it since this is the second incident involving the airline.
"People want to make our city look nice and present Charlotte to the world. Is this the kind of presentation we want to make to the world where people are thrown off planes because of the way they look? I don’t think so," Hough said.
