An Asian family was thrown off a Delta Airlines flight due to “discrimination”.
Korean American Justin Cho and his family were due to board Delta flight DL937 from LAX to Cancun for a family vacation. At the gate, Cho’s father mistakenly tried boarding during the Skypass/Executive class boarding. A Delta staff, Isabel, then allegedly told him very condescendingly to “move” and “we’re not boarding yet”.
When it was time for the Cho family to board, Cho’s father walked ahead, got his ticket scanned and waited for the rest of his family at the side of the walkway. He was then told by Isabel, “you have to walk in, go inside”, to which he was told “I am waiting for my family”
Isabel sternly said to Cho’s father, “you can’t wait here, go inside”, to which he replied “I am waiting for my family”. She then snatched Cho’s father’s passport out of his hands and said, “”that’s it, you’re not getting on go back in line”.
Describing the incident, Cho writes, ” Imagine looking at your father and seeing him being treated like a child in front of a huge group of people. He literally did nothing wrong and just wanted to board the plane together with his family for our vacation.”
Cho adds that his family were the only Asian family on the flight, “So the only 4 asian american people in the line at the time were asked to move to the side.” He also says that he saw another Asian family being pulled aside, “Later I was looking through the jetway and they had pulled the only other Asian family that I had seen to the side to double check their passports. I’d really like to think this was a coincidence, I’m not too sure though.”
According to Cho, 4 airport police staff were brought in, asking the family to step outside stating, that they were responding to a “threatening and escalating situation.”
One of the airport police Cho spoke with said “yeah unfortunately overbooking and kicking off people is normal protocol”.
Delta Airlines have not offered any compensation and have only offered to fly the family out the day after. This angered Cho more. “When I was checking into my flight yesterday Delta was offering $200, $300, $400, and even $500 for customers that would be willing to switch flights or change their plans.”
Cho wrote the Facebook post whilst waiting for his baggage to be unloaded at arrivals. “It has now been an hour, no bags in sight, no family vacation, with an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
In a video of the incident, Cho can be heard saying, “honestly, you know, I feel discriminated against.”
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