I’ve heard it all now ! In an ever changing world due to the numerous terrorist plots and threats, passenger power has won the day in Malaga following concerns by passengers flying back to Manchester. Two men were removed from the plane because other travellers thought they were speaking Arabic. Surely freedom of speech allows us to speak in our own language, we don’t all have to speak English. I can see that due to recent events over the last few years that people are wary of middle eastern people but surely everyone has the right to travel without suspicion.

Basically, because a couple of passengers overheard the two men talking in Arabic and had an Asian/Middle Eastern type appearance it set alarm bells ringing. Those passengers complained to Monarch that they would not board the flight until the pair were removed from the plane. This set of a chain reaction similar to Chinese Whispers and the rest of the passengers joined suit. The two men were taken from Wednesday’s flight ZB 613 and questioned but were allowed to fly back to the UK later in the week. There has been wide condemnation on this and as yet Monarch Airlines have refused to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the two men who missed the flight.

Does this mean now that if I don’t like the look of someone I can demand that they not board the same flight? Just because someone is of a certain religion or ethnicity doesn’t mean they are on the flight to cause harm. On the other hand it is a delicate situation and the media more often than not do not help paranoia in the general population. Who knows what the right thing to do is but if they were known terrorists I’d like to think their names and known aliases would be flagged at check in ? Am I being too naive?
Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood said it was disgraceful the pair seemed to have been judged on their skin colour.