Ex-FBI agent's wife, son locked in plane bathroom, racial discrimination angle being probed

The wife of a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent has claimed that an American Airline flight attendant allegedly locked her in the aeroplane's bathroom alongside her three-year-old son due to racism.

Yazz Giraldo, alongside her husband Ali Moghaddam and children, was flying from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to New York in September last year. During the flight, one of her kids wanted to urgently use the loo.Seeing that most passengers were using the washroom in front of the plane which was near her seat, Giraldo took her little son there but was soon stopped in the tracks by the flight attendant.

Afterwards, she was forced to go to the rear of the place to change the baby's diaper. There, another flight attendant told Giraldo that there was no restriction in using the nearby lavatory and she took her son in it.

Attendant locksGiraldo and her son

However, soon Giraldo heard a noise indicating she had been locked inside the washroom from outside.

“I closed the door, when I’m inside the bathroom I start hearing the noise, ‘tick, tick, tick. I freaked out. I was already under so much stress. I started to panic, I banged on the door a few times and I said, ‘Let me out of here'," she was quoted as saying bY NY Post.

Giraldo, a former TV host said she lost count of time inside the toilet and upon being released, could feel herself 'shaking'. However, a supervisor soon came onto the scene and started scolding her, alleging that the pilot was forced to put the plane under a 'terrorist attack' warning because of her.

"I immediately knew it was racism. I immediately knew I was being discriminated against," she added.

Giraldo believes she was racially targetted because the flight attendants had heard her talking in Farsi to her toddlers.

Meanwhile, Moghaddam became aware of the drama after the police came to escort his family off the plane in New York.

“I dedicated about a decade of my life to public service, to protecting the community. Joint Terrorism Task Force, undercover, S.W.A.T., all of this...for my family to be labeled as terrorist and be marched off a plane just because we want to change a diaper?” said Moghaddam, a former Pennsylvania prosecutor

“For me there’s certain terms that have a history and connotation that is very negative. That word terrorism is unique, especially considering all my sacrifices…you don’t throw that around.”

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Meanwhile, American Airlines released a statement saying, “American strives to provide a positive and welcoming experience to everyone who travels with us and we take allegations of discrimination very seriously. We are reviewing the details of the lawsuit.”

Giraldo is currently undergoing therapy while the family has filed a discrimination lawsuit in aBrooklyn Federal Court.

(With inputs from agencies)

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