[af_vet_1981]

However, for this guy to claim it is a rejection of his religion is simply ridiculous.

Prove it is "simply ridiculous."

One would have to examine the evidence and witnesses to determine the facts.
1. Miami to Detroit flight
2. " several passengers, along with our crew members," could have bias if they were Michigan based and hostile to Jews
3. On the other hand, perhaps there was some compelling reason to deny an obviously Jewish family boarding. The airline could have liability for discrimination if the "several passengers, along with our crew members" have an antisemitic bias, since action was obviously taken to deny the family boarding for the purported cause of "odor."

[imardmd1]

Prove it is "simply ridiculous."

Iy would be ridiculous for the whole crew of a deep-pockets company like American Airlines, risking their jobs, to deboard a family based on their religion, if it was proveable.

The family was given an overnight stay in a good hotel, with meals paid for, and flown home the next morning. Perhaps AA had a morning flight that had enough empty seats to sequester the family a few seats away from the rest, if necessary.

Think it through. Im the little country towns I lived, there comes a season comes when wild leeks (Southerners call them "ramps") find their way to the table. The odor they impart to the eater is so bad that a child whose family had them was barred from school the next day, and maybe more than one. The problem is that when you do eat them, you are not offensive to yourself.

How this was dealt with in these little towns was to have a ham-and-leeks communal banquet every year. thus allowing ebery one to enjoy them in season, with no one being put off. I actually have a trophy ball cap given out by a northern Pennsylvania hill town memorializing theirs.

But if one of them tried to board a flight from the county airport the next day, I'm sure that person would be told "No."

This little family might have gotten into something like that--a meal with garlic-laden gefilte fish or borscht or something like that, not realizing the scent they bore from it.