The Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, an umbrella organization for Jewish businesses, is calling on United Airlines to stop the discrimination of religious Jews after a number of incidents.
The organization of Orthodox Jews is calling its members and others to sign a petition asking United Airlines to “PUT ITS PASSENGERS FIRST,” the group said. They are disseminating an email asking people to sign.The group is responding to “complaints that United Airlines staff in Newark airport is humiliating, discriminating and embarrassing passengers, and in some incidents abusing their authority to declare them as security threats," the petition states.
The petition cites incidents where they claim religious men and even a single mother and baby were insulted, and in some cases were asked to deplane for "security reasons." As of Wednesday, a little more than 100 people had signed the petition.
Hamodia, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspaper, told the story of a recent incident in early March where a man was kicked off the airplane after having sat in a seat that did not belong to him. The man claims he was given permission by a flight attendant.
Another flight attendant, Jason, who kicked the Jewish man off the flight, said that it was because the Jewish man banged on the counter and insisted the airline change his seat on the flight. After the Jewish man was heard saying, “Once the flight is closed, I will do what I want.”
The Jewish man told Hamodia that those allegations were not true.
United Airlines responded to the report and said that it “takes claims of discrimination seriously. We will reach out to this customer and to our crew members to fully understand what happened.”