Delta released a statement to 11Alive on Tuesday, saying the employee has been suspended amid the ongoing investigation.
ATLANTA — A Georgia family is demanding millions of dollars from Delta Air Lines after a man said a flight attendant slapped him in front of his wife and two kids.
A spokesperson with Delta said the company launched an internal investigation immediately following claims of the incident. The airline also confirmed that the flight attendant was suspended while the investigation is ongoing.
During a news conference held Tuesday, Mohammad Shibli and his legal team announced a list of legal demands against the Atlanta-based airline, one of which included one full day of profit from Delta be provided to Shibli and his family.
Claims against Delta Air Lines
Shibli said he was flying from Atlanta to Fresno, California, on July 29 with his wife, his 4-year-old son, and his 2-year-old son.
The man said he sat with his 4-year-old, and his wife sat with their 2-year-old in a separate row. Shibli said the plane was delayed before takeoff, and during that time, their 2-year-old son began crying for water.
After the plane took off and the flight attendants made their rounds through the cabin, Shibli said the accused Delta flight attendant refused to serve his wife, despite being next to the galleys where water was stowed.
Shibli explained that’s when he got up and walked to the back of the plane to ask that same flight attendant for water, but he was refused again, accusing the flight attendant of using a “very disrespectful tone.”
The man said he then walked toward the front of the plane to ask the other flight attendants for water, and they happily assisted him, while apologizing for the other flight attendant’s behavior.
However, Shibli said that things escalated further later on during the flight. As the flight attendants came back through the aisles, he said the flight attendant who had refused his family water had asked them if they needed anything to drink. Shibli said he made it clear that he didn’t want anything from her, and he asked her to leave him alone.
“She then asked if I wanted the police to meet me at the gate, insinuating that she was going to have me arrested. I asked her, ‘For what?’ She just ignored me and continued her service,” Shibli said. “As she walked back and forth to serve other passengers, she bumped into me with her body. I tried to ignore it, but the passenger in my row, whom I had never met before, could tell that the Delta attendant was provoking me.”
Shibli claims that’s when the flight attendant leaned close to his ear and “whispered a very vulgar word.” Shibli said he was “shocked” and couldn’t believe the flight attendant would say “such a disgusting word to him.”
The father said that’s when he stood up and said a couple of bad words to the flight attendant after he felt he was being verbally abused in front of his son.
“It was at that time the Delta attendant took a few steps towards me and struck me with an open palm as hard as she could,” Shibli said. “I was pleading to other flight attendants that I was just assaulted.”
He said the accused flight attendant continued to serve passengers as if nothing had happened. However, he said multiple flight attendants came over and told the woman to sit in the back of the plane for the remainder of the four-hour flight.
“It was painful and embarrassing. As a father, I looked helpless in front of my son. As a husband, I was humiliated. And as a passenger, I feared for the safety and security for myself and for my family,” Shibli said in the news conference on Tuesday.
Attorney’s comments on what he believes contributed to tensions
Shibli’s attorneys said that a suspension of the Delta flight attendant is not enough.
“Delta ruined my client’s day, and Delta, we demand a day of your profits,” Ali Awad, the founder of personal injury firm CEO Law Firm, said.
Awad said he believes that Shibli’s wife’s shirt, which said “Palestine” on it, could have possibly contributed to the tensions on board the plane. He is hoping their list of legal demands will change the culture at Delta.
“Every Delta employee in the company must get education and sensitivity training on Palestine,” Awad said as another legal demand against the airline.
Awad also cited negligent hiring on behalf of Delta, citing numerous cases of employee legal trouble surrounding Delta in the past year, including a Delta pilot who was arrested in the cockpit in San Francisco on July 28, the day before Shibli’s alleged incident, on charges related to child sexual abuse material.
The family’s attorneys said they are giving Delta 30 days to respond to their legal demands.
11Alive reached out to the FBI, who couldn’t confirm or deny whether they were involved in the investigation.
