Pakistani-Born Pilot Sues JetBlue for Discrimination

Faisal Baig is a U.S. citizen living in Raleigh, NC, who was raised in New York. Baig, who is now 40, moved to the United States with his family when he was only 7 years old. Despite being a naturalized citizen and having lived in the U.S. for most of his life, Baig is considered a security risk by JetBlue Airways Corp.

Baig filed suit against JetBlue for discrimination, claiming that an airline manager told him he is a security risk and therefore couldn’t pilot a plane for JetBlue. Baig flew planes for Independence Air for six years before the company folded in January, and he is still looking for a new job. He was pleased in March when JetBlue offered him a job and invited him to attend their training school in Florida. The airline even gave him confidential information about a new Airbus aircraft, and he was told that he would be flying that aircraft for the company.

But a day before the training was to begin, Faisal says a manager called him into her office and rescinded the job offer. Baig, a practicing Muslim, said that the woman told him "Your background is complete, but it’s your background." Stunned, Baig asked her, "Is it because of where I’m from? My religion?" Baig says that the woman told him, "I don’t know what to tell you, but JetBlue deems you a security risk."

Bryan Baldwin, a spokesman for JetBlue, declined to comment to reporters, saying that the details are a pending legal matter. The lawsuit against the New York-based airline, filed in New York Supreme Court, seeks an unspecified amount of money.

Baig says that the surprising rejection both hurt and confused him. "I've been living in this country since I was 7, and now somebody's telling me I'm not a good American," he said. "September 11th changed a lot of things, and maybe a lot of minds, which is maybe unfortunate. But I don't know how to change that."