Back to the complete issue
Thursday, 22 December 2016

Delta wants you to speak anything but American on their flights

If you’re brown and flying Delta Airlines, watch out. You may be “politely” asked to give up your seat and move to the back — or off the plane: In the latest case of it “taking all allegations of discrimination seriously,” Delta Airlines staff escorted Arab-American celebrity prankster Adam Saleh off a flight after his having had a phone conversation in Arabic with his mom made over 20 passengers uncomfortable. In a video of the incident that has subsequently gone viral (watch; runtime: 3:21), his claims appear to be corroborated by passengers mockingly waving goodbye and jeering at him. Saleh tells CBS News that the angry passengers suggested his presence and speaking in another language echoed this week’s Christmas market attack in Berlin. Delta issued a statement saying it was investigating the incident, only to update it and claim Saleh “sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behavior,” and pointing to him being a known online prankster. “This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight.”

The story has been widely picked up, with reports in the Guardian, the BBC, the Daily Mail,

This is the latest in a string of mostly US airlines kicking passengers out because their skin tone, language or facial hair made pigment-challenged passengers “uncomfortable.” We hope these passengers enjoyed their brief flight back to Selma, Alabama, c. 1953. We won’t be flying Delta soon (despite one of us having a remarkably good flight from JFK to Rome on Delta quite recently), and anyone speaking any language other than ‘Murican don’t have to, either.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.