By Debbie Schlussel
Why is AirTran lying about its passengers? And why would you believe the company that refuses to answer important questions or release documents to back up their claims? The airline may face a lawsuit, which will finally uncover the proof that a dry run was conducted by 11 Muslim men, and it tried to force passengers to fly with them, anyway.
As readers know, on Thursday, I posted an e-mail written by Tedd J. Petruna, a NASA employee who was on AirTran Flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston on November 17th of this year.
He recounted in the e-mail–which he never intended to go public all around the internet–how 11 Middle Eastern men, likely Muslims, conducted what appeared to be a dry run. He wrote the e-mail to dispute the lie AirTran told the press that the flight was canceled because a man refused to stop talking on his cell phone. AirTran, by the way, has never released the name of that man. (Gee, could it be because his name is Mohammed or Ahmed, and he isn’t “a Spanish gentleman” as the airline claims? Hey, Spanish, Muslim–“they all look alike,” right AirTran?)
Since then, I noted that Chaplain Dr. Keith A. Robinson has come forth to describe his experience as a passenger on that same flight, writing about it and giving an exclusive interview to nationally syndicated radio talk show host, Steve Gill.
And now, the long knives of AirTran public relations have come out. AirTran told the Atlanta Urinal-Constipation, er . . . Journal-Constitution that Petruna was not on the flight (well, at least in this case, there’s no constipation, as the paper is full of crap). And instantly, everyone believes AirTran, without seeing the official passenger manifest or any documentation whatsoever. Everyone, except me and most of my readers (not the trolls who are now commenting).
Tedd Petruna tells me he was indeed on the flight and, afterward, wrote a long report for the airline about what happened on the flight. He says he’s shocked that AirTran is saying the TSA officials were never there, that the airline has the guts to flat out deny what happened on that flight and in the aftermath. There are plenty of records of his being on the flight and what happened, and he’s considering suing AirTran for lying about it and defaming him. Petruna predicted he’d be attacked for telling the truth about what happened on Flight 297, and he was right. But he told me that he never thought AirTran would lie and claim he wasn’t on the flight.
In my view, it’s not up to Tedd Petruna to prove he was on the flight. It’s AirTran’s move to prove he wasn’t. Merely saying so (and lying) isn’t enough.
Read the rest of this entry »