Jet Blue Passenger Accuses Airline of Antisemitic Intent, Calling Police and Canceling His Flight

By Hamodia Staff

Paul Faust, a frequent flyer and long-time customer of JetBlue, charged the airline with falsely accusing him of ‘causing a disturbance’ and threatening to call the police on him, and then cancelled his return flight, all in retaliation for his objection to a flight attendant displaying a pro-Palestinian pin. The airline later apologized to him, made changes to their policies, and said it would launch an investigation.

Faust was flying to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he noticed the flight attendant wearing the pins. According to Faust, the flight attendant wore that pro-Palestinian pin, along with a Black Lives Matter pin, on her uniform, and when she donned her apron she purposely moved it so that it should remain visible while she was serving passengers.

In a social media statement, Faust said that he conveyed a complaint about the pin to a supervisor, but specifically mentioned that he did not want to make a public fuss over the incident, and requested that the supervisor speak to the flight attendant at a later time. Yet when he landed, a uniformed official of the airline demanded her show his ID, and claimed he caused a disturbance. When Faust refused to produce his ID, the officer threatened to call the police, at which point Faust left the terminal. The next morning, he discovered that JetBlue had canceled his return flight without informing him.

Faust approached the lead attendant, and related that it was upsetting that she wore that pin, and that she moved that specific pin to the front of the apron. The lead flight attendant said she would speak with her, and Faust told her, “Maybe speak with her after we leave the plane. Just talk about how it was maybe a little insensitive, it made me feel a little uncomfortable.” He returned to his seat and did not speak directly to the offending attendant.

While disembarking, the attendant pointed him out to another JetBlue staffer in a yellow vest, who started to grill him. When the officer accused him of causing a disturbance, Faust replied that he did not know what he was talking about, and the officer demanded his ID. Faust refused, telling the officer he did not cause any disturbance.

At that point, the officer threatened to call the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. Faust left the premises, and later said he would not remain there while lies were made up about his actions.

When he discovered the next morning that his return flight was cancelled without the airline informing him, he called customer service who read him the notes which stated, “Mr. Faust caused a disturbance on the flight, did not listen to flight crew instructions.”

“This was not true,” Faust said. “There was no instruction I was given.”

The notes also included the accusations that he “didn’t listen to the supervisor at the gate… And Mr. Faust said everyone should go to Gaza so they can be killed,” which he also disputed.

A passenger who sat next to Faust, Rachelle Almagor, a middle aged Jewish Israeli-American, confirmed his story, and took pictures of the attendant and the pins she was wearing during the flight.

“I’ve been a Mosaic member for 10 years, a loyal flier,’ Faust said referring to JetBlue’s loyalty program.

After sharing his story on social media, dozens said they would no longer be flying with the airline.

JetBlue subsequently apologized to Faust, made immediate changes to their policies, and stated that the airline would conduct an investigation into the incident.

In a statement shared with Hamodia Tuesday morning, JetBlue wrote that it “does not tolerate discriminatory conduct, and we are committed to providing a respectful and welcoming environment for all our customers and crewmembers. We are taking this matter very seriously and conducting a full investigation into our crewmembers’ actions. We will take appropriate action once our investigation is complete as a result of non-compliance with any JetBlue policies.

The airline wrote that it has updated its uniform policy to clarify that airplanes are “not the right place for crewmembers to advocate positions on certain issues or political topics.” While JetBlue previously had a policy allowing staff to wear one “unoffensive” pin while working, after the incident, the airline says this policy will change. Crewmembers will only be permitted to wear pins approved or issued by JetBlue.

“In light of this incident, we urgently expedited this change,” the airline wrote, regarding the pins policy change. 

“We have reached out to listen to Mr. Faust and offer our apologies for the breakdown in our policies during his flight. We hope with these actions we can welcome him back onto a JetBlue flight in the future,” the statement concluded.