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A United Airlines flight from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) had some issues today when several male passengers refused to sit next to a woman for religious reasons and a member of the crew chose to shame her.
איזו תחושת השפלה שהדיילת האחראית של יונייטד, ישראלית מדברת עברית, ניגשת וצועקת עליי שבגללי הטיסה לא תצא. ושאם כן יטוסו, הטיסה תצטרך בגללי לעצור במצרים. תודה לשני גברים ואישה ישראלית מהממים לידי שתמכו בי. https://t.co/460Ac4ef9f
— נריה קראוס Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) August 15, 2023
Ben at One Mile at a Time used Google translate for the tweet above. It reads:
Haredim on the flight are now trying to move me from seat to seat. Because I am a woman. United Airlines does not handle this by the way. They tell me that because of the flight you will not leave. shame. What a sense of humiliation that the stewardess in charge of United, an Israeli who speaks Hebrew, approaches me and shouts at me that the flight will not take off. And if they do fly, the flight will have to stop in Egypt because of me. Thanks to two amazing Israeli men and women next to me who supported me.”
The New York Times covered this issue back in 2015. Apparently, some male Orthodox Jews hold religious beliefs that prevent them from sitting beside women who are not their wives. According to the tweet above, the woman was threatened that the plane would not depart or would have to go to Egypt (for some reason) if she did not comply.
I’ve written several recent posts about people being asked and in cases bullied to change seats. If you book a seat, it’s your choice to sit in it or change. This woman should not have been made to move (the other passengers should have found other seats).
Anthony’s Take: Although we only know the female passenger’s side of the story, it sounds like United handled this situation poorly and should have worked to reaccommodate the male passengers who had an issue based on religious beliefs. This is a slippery slope in that a passenger can claim they have an objection to another for any reason. Just because they find someone’s race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation objectionable does not mean that others should be inconvenienced.
(Featured Image Credit: United Airlines.)
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8 comments
If people have superstitions that prevent them from being seated next to women, they should buy an empty seat next to them or fly private. If the plane can’t leave until it’s sorted, just throw them off the plane. No different than a parent who can’t find somebody to switch with them so they can sit next to their children – nobody is obligated to move for you.
Or…maybe they should pay extra for business class so that they don’t have to sit right next to anyone!
The root cause of problem is government bans people and businesses from creating and operating venues or airlines for a specific group of people. In a fair and just world, these religious orthodox would be able to create their own orthodox airline that accommodates this. If gays want to have an airline advertised to only gays, why not. Same with Whites or Christians having schools for Whites or Christians.
Careful about what you write or the Tribe will string you up as an anti semite.
That’s a pretty paranoid and antisemitic thing to say.
It’s painfully obvious that it’s the woman’s fault. After all, just as they chose their current religion she chose to be born female, right? Oh wait..
If these guys are still stuck in the dark ages it’s not the woman’s fault.
There is usually more than one side to most stories. Suggest you consider the possibility of another viewpoint as to what happened.
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/airlines/united/dansdeals-interview-haredi-accused-discrimination-united-israeli-journalist-invented-false-narrative/
Well, it looks like the whole story was BS in the first place and this is just a nutty person stirring up trouble. https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/airlines/united/dansdeals-interview-haredi-accused-discrimination-united-israeli-journalist-invented-false-narrative/