Yesterday news came out about Youtuber Adam Saleh, someone who has marketed himself as a “professional idiot”. He was escorted off of Delta Flight 1 traveling from London to New York (JFK). Saleh claimed that he was kicked off the flight for “speaking Arabic”, and posted a video of him leaving the plane on Twitter
We got kicked out of a @Delta airplane because I spoke Arabic to my mom on the phone and with my friend slim… WTFFFFFFFF please spread pic.twitter.com/P5dQCE0qos
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
I also later learned that only a week ago, Saleh posted a video claiming to have smuggled himself in a checked bag on a TigerAir flight. While I was already inclined to wait to hear both sides of the story, his background as somewhat of a provocateur made me even more cautious.
Delta’s response
Delta was fairly proactive – first publishing a brief statement
Two customers were removed from this flight and later rebooked after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort. We’re conducting a full review to understand what transpired. We are taking allegations of discrimination very seriously; our culture requires treating others with respect.
Then a little later, posting a followup
We take all allegations of discrimination seriously and we are gathering all of the facts before jumping to any conclusion. Our culture requires treating everyone with respect. Furthermore, Delta people are trained to and frequently handle conflicts between passengers.
Maintaining a safe, comfortable and orderly onboard environment is paramount for every flight and requires the cooperation of all of our customers in conjunction with adherence to directions from our crew members. This is a Delta policy and is required by U.S. regulations as well as others governing aviation worldwide.
Two customers were removed from Delta Flight 1 departing London-Heathrow today after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort.
We have spoken with the customers who were removed; they were rebooked on another flight. Plans are in place to immediately speak with our crew and other passengers when the flight lands this afternoon. We will provide an update once we have more information
Upon landing the crew was debriefed and multiple passenger statements collected. Based on the information collected to date, it appears the customers who were removed sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behavior, including shouting. This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight. While one, according to media reports, is a known prankster who was video recorded and encouraged by his traveling companion, what is paramount to Delta is the safety and comfort of our passengers and employees. It is clear these individuals sought to violate that priority.
More of the Adam Saleh / Delta story is coming out
View from the Wing posted a report from a member on Flyertalk
Waiting for the boarding door to close and then there’s an altercation on my flight as a passenger is suddenly yelling he’s being discriminated against…
A guy making loud claims of discrimination…and that a white guy cursed him out for speaking Arabic.
There was no loud altercation before the guy started yelling into his video camera. And there’s always two sides to every story.
Red Coat said it had nothing to do with speaking another language…two young guys trying to get attention.
The New York Times also has a well-written and comprehensive report of the subject, that includes reports from passengers that a woman in front of Saleh were “interrupted by a woman in front of them, who asked them to speak English because they were making her uncomfortable.”
The Washington Post also has reports of a man seated in the row ahead of them who “heard one of them shouting something while the other filmed people’s reactions” as well as another passenger defending Saleh saying “I am upset that that’s happening, really upset – Is there freedom of speech? They can speak in whatever language they want to on the plane.”
Again, it will take time for the true story to come out of what happened. While there are certainly instances where flight attendants abuse their power, I for one would like to hear a little more details before rushing to a conclusion
What’s your take on this whole situation? Are you going to #boycottdelta?
This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them
User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
It seems painfully obvious that the guy was being intentionally disruptive. Accordingly, he should be banned for life on Delta, and likely placed on a no fly list for being incapable of or unwilling to conduct himself in a manner conducive to any reasonable standard of behavior. In many ways this is worse than the drunken idiots in Europe causing trouble on flights to party destinations for the weekend. At least in the case of those idiots, there’s no proven intentional malice. The fact that this malice was videotaped shows planning, and therefore intent. So let the guy take a cruise ship home. Maybe this child will grow up if he learns that actions have consequences.
This would be extremely unfortunate on either side whether there was actual discrimination or if this was just for YouTube. Probably more if it was just a prank. There are people who are genuinely discriminated against everyday and claiming discrimination when there is none for likes on YouTube is horrible and irresponsible. I also feel bad for the other passengers whose flight was disrupted. Hopefully the real story is revealed and if these young people are not telling the truth they should face the consequences for lying.
DL’s recent actions have made me appreciate and applaud them even further. It is amazing how many times a day I now have to delete angry comments from people who are attacking any of the (old) photos I’ve posted on IG with DL tagged. I suspect most of the people claiming they’re boycotting haven’t even flown DL. We’re fully in the post-intellect age.