New Yorker thrown off airplane for saying the F-word. Twice.
By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
Robert Sayegh
This is one of the most absurd reasons I’ve heard utilized by someone to create a hullabaloo and kick someone off a plane, and unfortunately for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Robert Sayegh is not going to take this lightly.
Mr. Sayegh, a 37-year-old Brooklyn man, said he was hung over and was overheard using an expletive in complaining about waiting 45 minutes at the gate to another passenger. When not putting everyone in danger by complaining about long waits, Sayegh is a children’s book author and TV producer. Yep, sounds like a terrorist to me.
Soon after the flight attendant overheard his clearly threatening and disruptive statement, “What’s taking so (expletive) long to close the overhead compartments?”, police officers boarded the plane and removed Mr. Sayegh. After he was taken off the plane by airport police he was told that it was because he was being “disruptive,” yet they failed to file a single charge.
According to The Detroit News, Atlantic Southeast Airlines adheres to Delta’s contract of carriage for passengers, which says the airline may refuse to transport or may remove people “when the passenger’s conduct is disorderly, abusive or violent.” A passenger also can be removed if he or she “appears to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs” or “attempts to interfere with any member of the flight crew in pursuit of his or her duties.”
Clearly his behavior was neither disorderly, abusive or violent. He was also not intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, if that were the case the police could have easily fined him and we all know that most police officers do not miss a chance to extort a citizen!
Complaining about a delay with some strong language is definitely not an attempt to “interfere with any member of the flight crew in pursuit of his or her duties.”
I believe that Mr. Sayegh would have a great case against this airline as they clearly humiliated him, disrupted his day, and created a massive hassle for him for absolutely no reason. This goes beyond just wasting Mr. Sayegh’s time, though.
This cuts to the core of one of America’s largest problems today: illogical terrorist-phobia.
Only because of the absurd hyped up fears of terrorism can ridiculous incidents like this occur. I would not be surprised if someone got thrown off a plane for being flatulent. After all, that could be disorderly or abusive, right? I’ve sat next to some people on airplanes that smelled so bad they could definitely be seen as attempting to interfere with a member of the flight crew.
Beware, if Americans don’t start standing up and pointing out how unnecessary and insane these types of actions are, you very well might be thrown off a plane for asking for a blanket or snoring. If someone can be escorted off a plane by police for saying a curse word twice, what is stopping them from throwing you off just because they don’t like how you look? What is stopping them from throwing you off for wearing a t-shirt with a message they don’t agree with?
The fact is that without clamping down on this fatuous behavior we will not be able to breathe without being told to by a megalomaniac in a flight attendant’s uniform.
Madison Ruppert is a Los Angeles-based independent journalist and researcher as well as the founder, owner, administrator and editor of EndtheLie.com. He has no affiliations with any government agencies, political parties, non-governmental organizations, or economic schools. He is available for freelance writing assignments and appearances or interviews in any format. He can be reached by emailing
Call the ACLU. Sue the airline and the police for millions. Retire.
Living well is the best revenge.