American Airlines is facing a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming a flight attendant locked her and her 3-year-old son in an airplane bathroom and accused her of causing a "terrorist" incident.
The incident occurred while Yazz Giraldo, her husband Ali Moghaddam (a former FBI agent), and their two children were on a flight from Fort Lauderdale to New York. Giraldo, who is of Middle Eastern and Latin descent, believes she was racially targeted because she and her husband were speaking Farsi to their toddlers.
The incident began when both children urgently needed to use the restroom, and Giraldo attempted to take her baby to the first-class bathroom closest to their seats at the front of the plane. However, one flight attendant barred her from doing so without explanation.
Giraldo changed the baby's diaper at the rear of the plane, where Moghaddam was sitting separately. A second flight attendant told her there was no prohibition on using the closer bathroom, so she took her son to that lavatory.
The flight attendant who barred her from first class tried to stop her, and the door of the bathroom locked, trapping Giraldo and her son inside. She lost track of time inside the bathroom and was weeping and "shaking" by the time she was released.
A few minutes later, a supervisor loudly berated her in front of other passengers, claiming "the pilot decided to put the plane under terrorist attack warning because of you."
Giraldo believes she was racially targeted and punished for challenging the flight attendant's decision to bar her from using the first-class bathroom. Moghaddam, a former Pennsylvania prosecutor who served six years in the FBI, was unaware of the incident until police escorted them off the plane when it landed in New York.
He requested to be taken to the airport's FBI substation and the officers realized he had law enforcement experience. They were let off after 15 minutes.
Read: Teen Airdrops hoax bomb threat to passengers on US flight, arrested
The couple now fears flying and questions whether they should be teaching their children Farsi.
Giraldo is now in therapy, according to their lawyer, New York Post reported. "That word terrorism is unique, especially considering all my sacrifices… you don't throw that around," Moghaddam said.
American Airlines responded, saying, "American strives to provide a positive and welcoming experience to everyone who travels with us, and we take allegations of discrimination very seriously. We are reviewing the details of the lawsuit."
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