Home / More + / Viral / Real Or Fake – Was Adam Saleh’s Incident On Delta Airlines As Authentic As It Seemed?

Real Or Fake – Was Adam Saleh’s Incident On Delta Airlines As Authentic As It Seemed?

By on December 21, 2016
adam saleh's delta incident

On 21 December 2016, Twitter user Adam Saleh sent a video tweet during his removal from a Delta flight, a removal that he claimed was based solely on his speaking Arabic on the plane:

Saleh appended a video of the incident as he was escorted off the flight and a fellow passenger objected to the situation. Saleh continued tweeting his experiences with Delta on the morning of 21 December 2016 and asked other Twitter users for their assistance in reaching Delta and helping him return to New York:

Delta Airlines has issued the following official response:

We take all allegations of discrimination seriously and we are gathering all of the facts before jumping to any conclusion. Our culture requires treating everyone with respect. Furthermore, Delta people are trained to and frequently handle conflicts between passengers.

Maintaining a safe, comfortable and orderly onboard environment is paramount for every flight and requires the cooperation of all of our customers in conjunction with adherence to directions from our crew members. This is a Delta policy and is required by U.S. regulations as well as others governing aviation worldwide.

Two customers were removed from Delta Flight 1 departing London-Heathrow today after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort.

We have spoken with the customers who were removed; they were rebooked on another flight. Plans are in place to immediately speak with our crew and other passengers when the flight lands this afternoon. We will provide an update once we have more information.

In the response, Delta asserted that “more than 20 … customers [expressed discomfort]” but did explain why the passengers were uncomfortable, remarks that didn’t go too far in discrediting the tweet’s claim. (It’s possible the incident was merely one of an unruly passenger’s being removed from a crowded flight and was unrelated to anyone’s “speaking Arabic.”)

Saleh’s last tweet indicated he managed to board a flight with a different carrier and expected to arrive in New York City later that day. Further information from Delta about the reason for the disturbance and ejection was unavailable.

Mediaite noted that Saleh has “a history of making videos about fake anti-Muslim racial profiling incidents and prank videos about planes in particular,” and former CNN host Soledad O’Brien tweeted that a source had told her Saleh was removed from the flight because the crew was aware he was a YouTube prankster:

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