American Actor Waris Ahluwalia Barred From Aeromexico Flight For Wearing A Turban

Early morning on Monday, actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia showed up at Mexico City’s airport to fly back home in New York City and attend the upcoming Fashion Week. At the Aeromexico counter, he was given a regular first class boarding pass expect for one detail: it had the letter “S” printed on it four times, meaning he had to go through a secondary security screening. When Mr. Ahluwalia showed up in a timely matter to his corresponding gate, the airline attendants asked him to step aside in order to conduct the said screening.

Reportedly, his bags were thoroughly searched and swabbed before he was asked to remove his sweatshirt and turban. Ahluwalia, who follows the Sikh religion, complied with the sweatshirt but refused to take his turban off; “It is a symbol of my faith. It is something that I wear whenever I am in public,” Mr. Ahluwalia said he explained. Later on, in an interview from the Mexico City airport, the actor narrated the occurred. “I responded matter-of-factly that I won’t be taking off my turban. And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, ‘O.K., then you are not getting on the flight.’ ”

Aeromexico later released an unapologetic statement, insisting the screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to “reach his destination as soon as possible.”

Ahluwalia posted a photo at the time of the incident saying: “This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban.”