Sikh Man Banned From Aeromexico Flight Grateful With Apology, Wants to Implement Special Training
An Indian-American Sikh is very grateful that Aeromexico issued an apology for preventing him from boarding a Mexico City-to-New York flight after refusing to remove his turban last Monday. Waris Ahluwalia, an actor, model and designer, is very happy but wants the Mexico City-based airline to have a special training on it employees on how to treat Sikh passengers, per the Associated Press.
"We're just a few steps away from a lot of hugs. We've gotten the apology and I'm grateful, and thanks to them for doing that. The next step is to do the training for inspecting Sikhs and others with religious headwear," Ahluwalia said.
Aeromexico issued their statement of apology to Ahluwalia on Tuesday via the company's official website. The statement said that Aeromexico is a global airline that embraces the diversity of passengers with strict compliance and respect for the culture and beliefs of customers.
"We apologize to Mr. Waris Ahluwalia for the unfortunate experience he had with one of our security guards during the boarding process prior to his flight to New York at the Mexico City International Airport. This incident inspires us to make sure that we strengthen the customer service protocols of our safety personnel in respectful accordance with the cultural and religious values of our customers," the statement said.
The Associated Press report notes that the turban is a required clothing for Sikh men. Many members of their community disapproves frisking of turbans as machines for body scanning and metal detectors are available. A U.S. guideline was put into effect last 2010, where passengers with turbans are not obliged to remove it if it makes them uncomfortable.
According to CNN, some of Ahluwalia's colleague from the fashion industry reacted on social media with the Council of Fashion Designers of America called it "very upsetting." CFDA President and CEO Steven Kolb said that Ahluwalia is one the nicest guy in fashion and the industry will be supporting him in any decision regarding the incident.
It's not the first time the Indian-American actor experienced such prejudice as a Gap advertisement featuring Ahluwalia was defaced in a New York City subway station. The ad had the words "Make Love" on it, but was crossed out and replaced with "Make Bombs." An additional "Please stop driving taxis" was also written by someone on the poster.
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