A hijack threat halted an American Airlines flight just before takeoff, leaving the New York-bound jet sitting on the tarmac for several hours while it was searched and passengers were removed for extra scrutiny. The FBI later determined that the telephoned threat was not credible.
A witness inside Boeing 767 said a man and a woman sitting in the back row were taken off in handcuffs. But they were quickly released and allowed to rebook their flights.
A fellow passenger suggested the couple may have been targeted because of their appearance. Michael Anderson, a student, said he remembered seeing the couple as he was checking in for the flight to New York and saw them carrying passports from Pakistan. "It definitely seems like it was racial profiling, based on what they look like physically and the fact they are Pakistani," he said. |