An Orthodox Jewish passenger says a United Airlines pilot forcibly removed him from an airplane bathroom while he was experiencing constipation, exposing his genitalia to other flyers during a flight from Tulum, Mexico, to Houston.
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Yisroel Liebb, of New Jersey, described his trip through allegedly unfriendly skies in a federal lawsuit this week against the airline and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, whose officers he said boarded the plane upon landing and took him away in handcuffs.
Liebb and a fellow Orthodox Jewish traveler said the pilot made disparaging remarks about their faith. They said they were forced to miss a connecting flight to New York City while U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers paraded them through an airport terminal, placed them in holding cells and searched their luggage.
“CBP Officers responded to reports of a disturbance on a flight at the request of the airline,” CBP Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs Hilton Beckham said. “Due to the ongoing litigation, we are unable to provide any further comment.”
United Airlines declined to comment. Messages seeking comment were left for a lawyer representing Liebb and the other traveler, Jacob Sebbag.
In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, Liebb said he was in the bathroom in the back of the plane for about 20 minutes on Jan. 28 when a flight attendant woke Sebbag from a nap and asked Sebbag to check on him.
Liebb said he explained his gastrointestinal predicament and assured Sebbag that he would be out soon. Sebbag then relayed that to the flight attendant, the lawsuit says.
About 10 minutes later, with Liebb still indisposed, the pilot approached Sebbag and asked him to check on Liebb, the lawsuit says. The pilot then yelled at Liebb to leave the bathroom immediately, the lawsuit says.
Liebb said he told the pilot that he was finishing up and would be out momentarily.
The pilot responded by breaking the lock, forcing the bathroom door open and pulling Liebb out with his pants still around his ankles, exposing his genitalia to Sebbag, flight attendants, and nearby passengers, according to the lawsuit.
Liebb and Sebbag said the pilot then pushed them back to their seats while threatening to have them arrested and making remarks about their faith and how “Jews act.”
After the two-hour flight landed in Houston, the men said about a half-dozen Customs and Border Protection officers boarded and escorted them off the plane.
Liebb said when he asked why they were being detained, an officer tightened his handcuffs and responded: “This isn’t county or state. We are Homeland. You have no rights here.”
The men said United booked them on a flight to New York City the next day for free, but any savings from the complementary tickets were lost because they had to pay for an overnight hotel stay and food during their delay.
He should sue their pants off
One small detail. The pilot did not “break the lock” or in another report “break down the door”
There is a way to unlock & open the door of every commercial airplane bathroom from the outside.
It’s used if someone has a medical emergency in the bathroom & can’t get out on their own (or sometimes like here it’s used for safety & security but that’s extremely rare).
I was once on a single isle plane in Europe which means it has 2 bathrooms and a line of waiting people and a yungerman took the liberty of sitting there for 20-30 minutes and the stewardesses kept banging on the door and screaming multiple times when he finally got out I felt ashamed it was a tremendous chilul hashem.
Doesn’t sound right
There are some commentators on this site, who have their heads in the clouds; they don’t want to accept the fact, that the crews of the airlines and their agents are capable of, and have engaged in dastardly and despicable acts against passengers of all backgrounds, including our people. Also, to add insult to injury, most of the time, they get away with their horrible conduct. For example, a few years ago, there was a pregnant woman on a Southwest flight. There was a dog near here, which she was allergic to. A dispute arose as to who would change seats. Southwest, in its misguided conduct, decided to have the pregnant woman thrown off the flight. When she resisted, the cops were called. A tape was made of the incident, whereby a large heavy cop physically shoved the smaller pregnant woman, and even tore part of her dress. I believe that the cops may have been from the Baltimore Airport, and were brutal. The woman sued, and who do you think represented Southwest Airlines, but a Jewish attorney. The poor woman lost the case. There was another case on another airline, whereby a Vietnamese-American Doctor was also brutally thrown off a flight, even though he was in the right. He sued, and was successful. Even when some lawsuits are won against the airlines, they don’t necessary change their conduct, or even punish or fire their employees. Therefore, we should not be surprised or even question, when a frum Jew is pulled out of a bathroom toilet, while undressed. The friendly skies are no longer friendly, and as I’ve stated before, flying the commercial airlines in the USA, is tantamount to riding the NYC subways. The only airlines in the world, where passengers are treated with courtesy and respect (and are even waited on constantly), are the Asian airlines, such as Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines and Emirates.
That’s Nuts
I don’t believe the story as told. For starters, post 9/11 flight deck crews do not get involved in cabin issues. If cabin crew can not handle it then they get the police. In addition, there’s need to break any locks because the lavs can be unlocked from outside.
While there’s got to be more to the story than our news tells us, United Airlines has great disdain for Jews. They cannot ever be given the benefit of the doubt.
I get plugged quite often as well and if you’re sitting there and nothing is happening, you get out, walk around a bit, and then go back in and try again. The stewardesses are not mind readers.
United has an anti-Semitism problem. When they first started their direct flights to LAX from Israel, many of the staff acted like they had a chip on their shoulder. The hostility was almost tangible. They would even purposely not clean the bathrooms before flights. The situation has significantly improved since then- presumably because it was affecting their bottom line.
I’m shocked at many of the insensitive comments here. No one sits on an airplane toilet unless it’s very necessary. Some people- believe it or not suffer from stomach issues. To suggest they shouldn’t get on a plane or it’s their fault for using bathroom so long is pathetic and cruel.
Why aren’t all Jews boycotting UNITED AIRLINES??
Only language that talks
Let’s not kid ourselves visible looking orthodox Jews have always been a target for all sorts of discrimination
especially at the airlines but, giving the current atmosphere this is even more common nowadays. Anyway that’s why they’re a lawyers. sounds like a nice lawsuit with a nice settlement in the end
Try my best to avoid airplane bathrooms, especially for gedolim – imagine if you’re sitting and there’s sudden violent turbulence! (I feel for women.) Always go before boarding. I’m dan l’kaf zchus that this boy had Montezuma’s Revenge from Mexico’s water. What the captain did was obviously unacceptable.
I dont know what happened, but seriously you dont sit on an airline toilet for over a half hour. Thats not right on so many levels
I glean from the facts in the story that they must have been ready to land and the only way they could proceed to landing was if everyone got back in their seats. If one guy is in the bathroom they have to circle until he gets out and sits down. They might have been circling a while when the captain found it necessary to get the guy out. I presume they knocked and gave him plenty of opportunity to come out on his own volition. If the captain himself was involved then it must have been a high priority situation. The problem with these stories is that we never get the follow up. I would like to see VIN have enough guts to post the formal reply by United to the lawsuit. That would shed a lot of light on the situation. But you can be sure that as usual we will not hear about the story again.
He definitely should sue their nuts off, for all those that were mocking this guy, shame on u, i suffer from stomach issues as well and on a plane with high altitude the pain in the digestive system can be unbearable and a 30 min toilet visit is totally understandable with the constipation and gas pains including diarrhea and nausea,
Shame on this airline I hope this guy wins.
Sometimes you can’t avoid these situation Nobody sits in the toilet for no reason. Cramps can hit people suddenly. Have you ever heard of colitis, IBS , Crohn’s disease and others. It’s embarrassing enough . There is more than one bathroom on the plane. Crew needs to be more patient. I feel we are not getting the whole picture though
According to an official from the DOHS, they had ketamine pills in their possession and “were exhibiting erratic behavior, including barricading themselves in the bathroom.”
What’s happened to goyim with diarrhea?????
What a disgusting and humiliating experience. The man who broke the bathroom lock and dragged the passenger out of the little toilet area has to be sued personally. He is anobvious anti semite. The words he uttered about Jews were disparage. The airline and every involved who handcuffed him and screamed at him should be sued and so should Homeland Security. Jews are being targeted by the airlines. We have to sue them until bankruptcy
Some frummies should’nt leave the house.