Easyjet bans woman who asked staff not to blaspheme

Air ban on woman in blasphemy row

A devout Christian was banned from flying with the budget airline Easyjet after she asked staff to “stop blaspheming”.

Fiz Thomson, 55, was returning from a trip to Israel where she had been helping war victims, when she heard boarding staff at Stansted airport repeatedly exclaiming “Oh, my God” after a child fell and hurt herself.

She said she politely asked them to stop taking God’s name in vain. She was then approached by a security official and she claims she was called a “racist” for remarking that her complaint would have been taken more seriously had she been Islamic.

As a result of the altercation on Tuesday, her boarding card was withheld, her luggage was taken off the Edinburgh-bound flight and she was barred from flying with the airline for 24 hours.

The grandmother, from Burntisland, Fife, who worships at the independent Vine Church in Dunfermline, said: “There was absolutely nothing at all that I said to the airport staff which could have been interpreted as racist. “I was very polite and non aggressive, but one of the ladies angrily asked me if I expected everyone to follow my religion and do as I did.

“A member of the security staff then appeared and started arguing with me.”

Mrs Thomson, a registered foster carer with Fife Council, added: “All the other flights to Edinburgh that evening were with Easyjet. I ended up having to hire a car and drive to my daughter’s home in Bolton. “I stayed the night there before driving home the following day. It cost me more than £200, including petrol.”

According to Easyjet, Mrs Thomson was “ranting at female gate staff of Indian origin” who had had no intention to be blasphemous.

A spokesman said her remarks appeared to be racist and a view was taken that she needed to calm down and would not be allowed to fly.

Source

(Listed if other than Religion News Blog, or if not shown above)
Telegraph, UK
Aug. 26, 2006
Auslan Cramb
www.telegraph.co.uk

Religion News Blog posted this on Saturday August 26, 2006.
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