What Are Your Rights If Airlines Refuse To Let You Board?

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These days, boarding a flight is not always a breeze.

Consumer advocates, passengers call for checks on flight crew's authority.

When a prominent Dallas attorney attempting to catch a Virgin America flight home from New York was informed at the gate that the crew did “not feel comfortable” with him on the flight—it set off a debate over whether airlines’ frontline employees have too much discretion to boot someone from a flight.

The incident apparently began when a flight attendant complained that the passenger had cut in front of her earlier when the two pushed into a revolving door at the same time at LaGuardia. The man, Bobby Abtahi, said he offered to apologize to the crewmember in question but was still not permitted to board, and was told that the captain backed the decision. Abtahi is Iranian-American, although neither side has said that was the cause of the incident.

Abtahi got home anyway, via American Airlines, but not before he posted a Twitter message that quickly drew attention to his case. Virgin apologized and chalked it up to a “misunderstanding,” refunding his ticket and offering him a couple of free airline trips. Abtahi accepted the apology, but asked the airline to donate the tickets to a local charity.

But the attorney, who is vice chairman of the Dallas Planning Commission, did have one request: He’s asked the airline to tighten up on the latitude given to flight crews to decide whether to allow a passenger on board.

“We have all these regulations around flying and safety, and that seems the most subjective one,” Abtahi was quoted as saying. He noted that he’s a member of theTSA PreCheck and Global Entry expedited-screening programs, which require background checks, and that he wasn’t doing anything that should have triggered such a reaction.

Charles Leocha, head of the consumer group Travelers United, agreed, noting that the Virgin America episode is just the latest in a recent string of troubling examples of crews overreacting. “The airlines should definitely read the riot act to their staff,” especially in cases where another passenger has expressed fears about a fellow flier because of their ethnicity," Leocha said. “If you are genuinely fearful, that’s a different story; they should say ‘come to us and explain that, and be ready to support your reasoning.’ ” However, airlines should not give carte blanche to an employee to overreact with no consequences, he pointed out.

The other incidents Leocha mentioned took place on Southwest Airlines, where, on two separate occasions, passengers who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent were either not allowed to board flights or were ordered off the plane, reportedly because other passengers had complained that they would otherwise be afraid to fly. In one instance, however, the passengers were ultimately allowed back on the flight after they called police to complain about their treatment.

“It is part of our aviation system that likens the pilot to a captain aboard a ship,” said Leocha. “He’s got total discretion and stands behind his crewmembers,” he said. The FAA, when asked to comment, said that the authority of the captain is spelled out in regulations, which state that “the pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft.”

Southwest, in fact, appeared to affirm that view in a statement in response to criticism of its actions, saying that “safety is our primary focus, and our employees are trained to make decisions to ensure that safety...."

Most airlines do lay out the most common offenses that will get you ejected in their contract of carriage covering all manner of rules—and which fliers enter into automatically when they purchase a ticket. But they’re written so broadly as to permit the airline to refuse passage for almost any reason, and given how rushed and chaotic boarding a plane can be these days, bad decisions will occasionally be made.

But no matter what the situation or the excuse, the law is very clear on one thing: Airlines cannot refuse to carry someone for impermissible reasons, such as their race or gender, the Department of Transportation said. Asked to comment on these latest incidents, a DOT spokesperson said: “Any airline decision to refuse to transport, whether it be the decision of the captain or other airline staff such as a gate agent, cannot be based on the person’s race, color, national origin, religion, ethnicity, or sex.” A number of federal statutes specifically prohibit discrimination by airlines, and DOT has enforcement powers to pursue such cases.

Written by Barbara Peterson