Frontier Airways has issued an announcement after a video of UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov being faraway from a latest flight went viral.
On Saturday, Nurmagomedov was scheduled to journey from Las Vegas to California the place Saturday’s UFC pay-per-view occasion is scheduled to be held. Nonetheless, his flight plans have been held up after an airline attendant pressured him off the airplane. In response to stories, Nurmagomedov was sitting in an emergency exit row and was repeatedly requested if he would have the option and prepared to help within the occasion of an emergency.
After a short verbal fracas, Nurmagomedov was faraway from the airplane, however not earlier than one other passenger caught among the incident on video. The clip shortly went viral, prompting struggle followers on social media to lambaste the airline.
Nurmagomedov has since spoken out concerning the incident, suggesting that his removing from the flight could have been associated to his race or nationality.
in keeping with Frontier, Nurmagomedov was in ‘Non-Compliance with FAA necessities’
Frontier Airways launched an announcement to MMA Combating, explaining their aspect of the story and that deboarding the legendary light-weight was nicely inside their authorized purview.
“On Jan. 11, 2025, as flight 4401 from Las Vegas to San Francisco was making ready for departure, a flight attendant initiated the customary briefing for exit row passengers. Buyer Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was seated in an exit row, was requested a number of occasions if he was prepared and capable of help within the occasion of an emergency. In response to the flight attendant, Mr. Nurmagomedov didn’t reply, regardless of repeated makes an attempt, which positioned him in non-compliance with FAA necessities…
“On account of the shopper’s preliminary unresponsiveness and repeated declinations of a seat change, he was requested to deplane per airline and FAA coverage. The choice to deplane the shopper was on no account associated to his ethnicity, and we’ve refunded him and his touring companions for his or her flights.”
That rationalization wasn’t ok for the Council on American-Islamic Relations who demanded there be an investigation into the incident.
“We name on Frontier and the U.S. Division of Transportation to swiftly and transparently examine this incident to find out precisely what occurred on this flight and why athlete and Muslim advocate Khabib Nurmagomedov was handled this fashion and whether or not non secular or racial profiling performed a task in his therapy,” CAIR Nationwide Government Director Nihad Awad stated in an announcement.
“Given how typically incidents of racial and spiritual profiling happen on airways, particularly towards vacationers who’re noticeably Muslim, [Frontier Airlines] also needs to publicly launch the outcomes of its investigation and take applicable motion to handle any misconduct or errors by its employees.”
