Methinks there is much more to this story.

Chicago Tribune: Is "complaints" same as "concerns"?

AA probably handled this as best they could, particularly if a passenger started a "dispute" with the Arabic men and then probably started getting other passengers riled up. San Diego to Chicago is a long flight to risk having passengers fighting even if this incident is all based on ignorance.

That's right, America. Everyone who speaks Arabic is a terrorist. Good going!

@Hossofcourse: It's a complaint if it's just hearing the other language. There is nothing within reason that should concern anyone about simply hearing arabic spoken.

@Ben Popken: There's gotta be. I'm dying to find out what the argument was about.

The men had been hired by a company called Defense Training Systems to train Marines at Camp Pendleton.
I wonder if that will matter or if someone will still claim that they were only speaking Arabic to cause trouble like in the other posts about similar incidents.

being scared of arabic people is sooooo 2002

now I just fear clowns and anyone running for President (wait, same thing?)

Especially those who speak arabic and who are helping to train the US marines in Iraq...

I'm sure all the business travelers on that flight were THRILLED with the mommy or daddy traveler who were in the argument.

@Hossofcourse: The airline probably considers anything that the passengers come to their crew with a complaint. For them what would be the difference between a concern and a complaint?

Silly passengers. We all know only to complain when we see sub prime mortgage meltdowns on the flight.

This is ridiculously old news, folks.

Umm its my understanding that these people were working for the marines with injured soldiers. Good job with the profiling there. And just how is acting like an a$$hat working out for you? Have a nice wait....

@RottNDude:

The Associated Press
August 30, 2007

@not_seth_brundle: Here we go blaming the victim again.

I keed, I keed.

Seems to me we don't have all the details. What provoked the fight? Someone with the mindset who would complain that the passengers were speaking Arabic and the flight should stop probably isn't smart enough to know they were speaking Arabic or Chinese. And someone who could actually figure out they were speaking Arabic is probably worldly enough not to assume they want to blow up the plane. I find it hard to believe AA would stop a flight because one passenger told a flight attendant someone was speaking in some 'furrin language.

Maybe the Arabic conversation, translated into English was really this:

"Damn, I wish those parents would make their howler monkeys shut the hell up!"

"God, I know! Don't they get it? It's called Baby Benadryl!"

Thank God. Now we know how to de-plane next time your flight get stuck on the tarmac for 6 hours. Little racial profiling sends ya right back to the jetway.

The Consumerist "Shoppers Fight Back". What does this article have to do with being a consumer? Or is it because a consumer on AA literally fought back?

@Ben Popken:

I have to agree...there seems like a huge back story that no one is at liberty to talk about yet. If these guys were working for the government, couldn't they just have proved that? Weird story; looking forward to the whole of it.

@stanfrombrooklyn:

I find it hard to believe AA would stop a flight because one passenger told a flight attendant someone was speaking in some 'furrin language.

Meg... it's ridiculous to hint that speaking one's own native language is "misbehavior". That is much as I hate to use the word, racism and discrimination.

I thought we moved past such things decades ago. At least in public, polite company.

@stanfrombrooklyn: I now have a third category of annoyance:

1. "Get a credit union" people who think that's the answer to any financial problem;

2. "Blame the victim" people who think that someone must have done something wrong to have gotten screwed by profit-minded megacorps;

3. "I don't think this should be posted on this site even though it's not my site and not my choice" whiners.

@kittikin:
10 START SARCASM
20 WRITE: In America we speak American, DERP!!!
30 END SARCASM

@Toof_75_75: If they work in pretty well any capacity for the US Gov't, they'd have some form of Gov't ID. I work as a Gov't contractor and have always had a Gov't ID... So I wholly agree, there has to be a lot more to this that's not being said yet.

And I know Army Soldiers who sit around speaking Arabic... because they're linguists. Oh, the joys of profiling.

Not only do I concur with Ben's sentiment that there must be a lot more to this story, but it feels like the Arabic aspect of things may not even be the central point in the actual dispute -- feels more like the reporter played it up because it touches a nerve and s/he couldn't get the rest of the details.

@Buran: Meg was pretty clearly referring to the complaining/arguing passengers when she said "let's try to behave ourselves," so let's rein in the accusations of racism.

Imagine if they'd been speaking French. The Horror!

@Buran: (Re: annoying commenters) On the other hand, I wholeheartedly agree with this comment. What's especially perplexing in this case is that a mere one minute earlier, stanfrombrooklyn found this post interesting enough to post a substantial comment on it. Yet at 12:56, the story magically became unworthy.

@stanfrombrooklyn: I believe the "Unruly Passengers" tag can be considered a subset of the "Bad Consumers" posts.

This sort of thing is a consumer concern because:

1) It affects the ability of anyone who looks Middle Eastern to fly anywhere

2) It affects the ability of anyone on a plane with someone who looks Middle Eastern to get where they're going

3) It keeps happening

@Buran: I think Meg was referring to the people complaining about the men speaking Arabic. Or at least the passenger who got into a fight with them.

@thepounder:

Would they have had Gov't id if they hadn't started working yet?

Plus, would they be issued government IDs if they were working for a private government contractor?

BTW, there's a press release on the front page of [www.defensetrainingsystems.com]

Heck, Anytime I go threw security, I'm wearing Prada Flip Flops, No Socks, And I keep walking for the most part. if they get rude or try to stop me, I tell them I'm a white American with Canadian Citizenship. If they touch me one more time I'll scream rape.

cmon! who WOULDNT get a little nervous/wary about 6 arabs on YOUR flight these days? Speaking a foreign language just adds to the problem.

Yeah, I know I am gonna get blasted for this comment, but you'd think arabs would realize that bringing attention to themselves aboard a US flight is going to end badly. Its like walking into a bank with a hat pulled low, sunglasses on & a gun-shaped bulge in your pocket. You are just asking for trouble!

@not_seth_brundle:

Speaking as a private government contractor, the answer is "no, they wouldn't."

@nctrnlboy: "BLAST!!!"

\Moran

@laddibugg: I suppose that'd depend on the company and/or the company's interface with the Gov't. (some are just much more "in bed" with the Gov't than others)
I work with a smaller contract company and I waited to get my ID... But I've known people with bigger (read: huge like KBR or CACI) companies and it seemed to me they had their Gov't ID's well before I would've been able to get mine...

Now I'd personally assume that if they had just accepted their job offers and were heading to Pendleton to begin their jobs then, no, they'd have no form of Gov't ID at that point. They'd possibly have some form of company Offer Letter though, but that's not ID per se. If they did have Gov't ID at that point I'd think something fishy was up. (no profiling, it's just that Gov't ID's are typically treated as "sensitive items" and they're quite difficult to get unless you really do have the right paperwork to get one)

All this makes me really really wonder what the whole story is here.

what did the german neo nazi say to the irish republican army member in first class?

"yah i agree wiss you, itz a good sing vee are vhite."

@Rectilinear Propagation: I'm still a bit stunned that people think that a group of people speaking their native language is done for the express purpose of aggravating people. By that same logic if I go to France and speak English they should view that as a hostile act and treat me accordingly. Idiots.

@nctrnlboy: They can be nervous, I'm not going to stop them. However, they probably shouldn't start a dispute serious enough to keep a flight from leaving.

Let's say you're a woman walking through a dark parking garage at night and there's a man walking in the same general direction. Obviously, women have been raped and killed in this situation before so I wouldn't blame her for being nervous and wary in the situation. However, I would blame her if she picked up a heavy, blunt object and knocked him out just because there's a precedent.

@nctrnlboy: Seriously. And all those black people who went around with their skin all hanging out and stuff 50 years ago...they were *totally* asking for anything they got.

You, sir, are an idiot.

Here's the article from the Sun Times. Little different take.

@Erskine: I work for a private contractor and have a Gov't issued ID, even when I'm not deployed. It's because of where I work though.
I'd assume that these guys on the airplane would've gotten Gov't ID's at some point, assuming they'd actually be working on Camp Pendleton.

But yeah, there's lots of weird Gov't rules about ID's and such... it seems like the same rule is never applied twice sometimes...

@omerhi:

I think there is a bit of a difference between outright acceptable racism that happened 50+ years ago & the current high awareness/sensitivity to the REAL possibility of middleastern highjackers on a US flight. Add in the fact that it was a group (speaking arabic) of 6 of them & an altercation ON the plane.... what do you expect? Just being midleeastern isnt reason for suspicion.... a group of them speaking arabic ramps it up a bit though (throw in an altercation & the level gets even higher).

It's interesting to read these comments, and not wonder if every single one of you, would not at least do a double take or raise an eyebrow seeing 6 Iraqi men (middle-eastern) waiting in line for your flight, speaking a language unknown to you. I'm not incinuating anything, but rather pointing out how every American's mind works post September 11, 2001.

Where the story doesn't make sense/jive - if they are liaisons to the US government and US soldiers they obviously all know English, (unless our military is just plucking any Iraqi residing in the US to elaborate on their former culture) why raise irrational unjustified fears for no reason? Would speaking English have prevented this? Maybe not. But, my point is that the story isn't all jiving.

@nctrnlboy: Lesson learned then - if you're middle eastern (or even if you're not and simply could pass for middle eastern), split into pairs and travel separately. Problem resolved.

"People, let's try to behave ourselves on the airplane? Shall we?"

I'm assuming you are referring to the people who made the complaint, not the Arabic-speaking folks. Or perhaps you mean both parties as they did engage in some sort of argument. I'm just saying, someone new to this site could interpret your comment any one of these ways.

@spinachdip:

Yes.

I'm sorry, but in today's day and age, six Arab men having a lively conversation in Arabic is going to make people nervous. You can either, A. Ban all Arabs from riding in groups greater than 3 on planes, or B. Deal with occasional incidents like this one. You are not going to change whether people get nervous or not.

She got nervous and wanted to get off, should they have prevented her from getting off the plane? Not allowed her to complain? Once someone complains they have to investigate it or there will be MASSIVE witch hunts if something actually does happen on the flight.

@Erskine: Methinks before you blast someone you should learn to spell Moron correctly.

I see his point, when I travel overseas I keep the American attitude real low. And it's not just here that it could happen. I was in Poland and I accidentally spoke to one of my friends in english instead of the German we were speaking....you could of heard a pin drop in the bar. Lets just say we left quite quickly under the glare of the locals.