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American Morning

American Airlines Investigating Religious Incident

Aired February 09, 2004 - 07:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A pilot has some explaining to do after he reportedly asked Christian passengers on his flight to identify themselves and talk about their beliefs with other passengers in flight. American Airlines investigating that incident. It happened on a flight from L.A. to New York.
Karla Austin and Jen Dorsey were passengers on Flight 34. They're with us here to talk about the experience.

Good morning to both of you.

JEN DORSEY, PASSENGER ON AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT: Good morning.

KARLA AUSTIN, PASSENGER ON AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT: Good morning.

HEMMER: Karla, nice to see you.

Jen, as well.

What happened at this point in flight? How far into it were you?

DORSEY: We were just at the beginning of our flight. The pilot came on to greet everyone, give his comments for the morning. And he said he had recently been on a mission trip and he'd like all the Christians on board to please raise their hands and then invited us to all look around a little bit at one another. He said that we -- our flight time was four and a half hours today and you can either use your time wisely on the flight or you can just sit back and watch the movie, the choice is up to you.

HEMMER: Meaning you can use your time wisely how?

DORSEY: I think to think about religion or to pray or to discuss it. I really don't know what he meant by it.

HEMMER: How many people raised their hands?

AUSTIN: Well, nobody did.

DORSEY: Not really. Not many.

AUSTIN: Nobody did.

HEMMER: Really?

AUSTIN: But he did say to the people, he said if you're Christian, raise your hand. If you're not, you're crazy. So he did make that comment, as well.

HEMMER: He used that word crazy?

AUSTIN: Yes, he did.

HEMMER: What was the reaction among passengers?

DORSEY: Shock. Everyone really spent quite a few minutes just looking around, I think, at one another. A few people reached for their phones. A few people got up to use the on air phone. No one really knew what to make of it.

HEMMER: Obviously there was concern, though, and the concern was what?

DORSEY: Yes.

AUSTIN: Well, we weren't sure. I mean just given the history of what's happened on planes in this country, anything could happen at this point. So we weren't sure if something was going to happen at takeoff, if he was going to wait till JFK to do something. But there was definitely an implication there that we felt something was going to happen.

HEMMER: I understand that some of the passengers talked with the flight attendants and they relayed some messages to the cockpit.

What was said there to the flight attendants?

DORSEY: Correct.

AUSTIN: Mostly passengers were asking flight attendants what was going on. And they were reassuring us that things were OK and thought if our safety was in jeopardy that they wouldn't be there, as well. They said that they had called ground, that the purser was talking to the pilot and basically if they thought it was a safety concern, they would do something about it.

HEMMER: OK, it's my understanding about 45 minutes later the pilot came back on the speaker system? Is that right?

DORSEY: Yes.

HEMMER: What did he say, Jen?

DORSEY: Correct. He came on and said I want to apologize for my comments earlier. I think I really threw the flight crew off a little bit and they're getting a lot of flak for the things I said. So I want to apologize to my flight crew.

HEMMER: And at the end of the flight, you spoke with the pilot.

What did you say?

AUSTIN: I told him he should be ashamed of himself.

HEMMER: And his response?

AUSTIN: He just nodded and looked to the ground and that was it.

HEMMER: No comment? AUSTIN: No comment.

HEMMER: Well, American Airlines has made a statement anyway and we'll read it to our viewers now. Quoting now, "It falls along the lines of a personal level of sharing that may not be appropriate for one of our employees to do while on the job."

That statement from the airline.

As you mentioned, he had just returned from a mission in Costa Rica. Perhaps that had something to do with his state of mind.

But at this point, you guys are OK, right?

DORSEY: Right.

AUSTIN: We're OK.

HEMMER: No harm, no foul.

AUSTIN: Right.

HEMMER: Karla Austin, Jen Dorsey, thanks for sharing with us today.

Welcome to New York.

DORSEY: Thank you.

AUSTIN: Thank you.

DORSEY: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 9, 2004 - 07:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A pilot has some explaining to do after he reportedly asked Christian passengers on his flight to identify themselves and talk about their beliefs with other passengers in flight. American Airlines investigating that incident. It happened on a flight from L.A. to New York.
Karla Austin and Jen Dorsey were passengers on Flight 34. They're with us here to talk about the experience.

Good morning to both of you.

JEN DORSEY, PASSENGER ON AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT: Good morning.

KARLA AUSTIN, PASSENGER ON AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT: Good morning.

HEMMER: Karla, nice to see you.

Jen, as well.

What happened at this point in flight? How far into it were you?

DORSEY: We were just at the beginning of our flight. The pilot came on to greet everyone, give his comments for the morning. And he said he had recently been on a mission trip and he'd like all the Christians on board to please raise their hands and then invited us to all look around a little bit at one another. He said that we -- our flight time was four and a half hours today and you can either use your time wisely on the flight or you can just sit back and watch the movie, the choice is up to you.

HEMMER: Meaning you can use your time wisely how?

DORSEY: I think to think about religion or to pray or to discuss it. I really don't know what he meant by it.

HEMMER: How many people raised their hands?

AUSTIN: Well, nobody did.

DORSEY: Not really. Not many.

AUSTIN: Nobody did.

HEMMER: Really?

AUSTIN: But he did say to the people, he said if you're Christian, raise your hand. If you're not, you're crazy. So he did make that comment, as well.

HEMMER: He used that word crazy?

AUSTIN: Yes, he did.

HEMMER: What was the reaction among passengers?

DORSEY: Shock. Everyone really spent quite a few minutes just looking around, I think, at one another. A few people reached for their phones. A few people got up to use the on air phone. No one really knew what to make of it.

HEMMER: Obviously there was concern, though, and the concern was what?

DORSEY: Yes.

AUSTIN: Well, we weren't sure. I mean just given the history of what's happened on planes in this country, anything could happen at this point. So we weren't sure if something was going to happen at takeoff, if he was going to wait till JFK to do something. But there was definitely an implication there that we felt something was going to happen.

HEMMER: I understand that some of the passengers talked with the flight attendants and they relayed some messages to the cockpit.

What was said there to the flight attendants?

DORSEY: Correct.

AUSTIN: Mostly passengers were asking flight attendants what was going on. And they were reassuring us that things were OK and thought if our safety was in jeopardy that they wouldn't be there, as well. They said that they had called ground, that the purser was talking to the pilot and basically if they thought it was a safety concern, they would do something about it.

HEMMER: OK, it's my understanding about 45 minutes later the pilot came back on the speaker system? Is that right?

DORSEY: Yes.

HEMMER: What did he say, Jen?

DORSEY: Correct. He came on and said I want to apologize for my comments earlier. I think I really threw the flight crew off a little bit and they're getting a lot of flak for the things I said. So I want to apologize to my flight crew.

HEMMER: And at the end of the flight, you spoke with the pilot.

What did you say?

AUSTIN: I told him he should be ashamed of himself.

HEMMER: And his response?

AUSTIN: He just nodded and looked to the ground and that was it.

HEMMER: No comment? AUSTIN: No comment.

HEMMER: Well, American Airlines has made a statement anyway and we'll read it to our viewers now. Quoting now, "It falls along the lines of a personal level of sharing that may not be appropriate for one of our employees to do while on the job."

That statement from the airline.

As you mentioned, he had just returned from a mission in Costa Rica. Perhaps that had something to do with his state of mind.

But at this point, you guys are OK, right?

DORSEY: Right.

AUSTIN: We're OK.

HEMMER: No harm, no foul.

AUSTIN: Right.

HEMMER: Karla Austin, Jen Dorsey, thanks for sharing with us today.

Welcome to New York.

DORSEY: Thank you.

AUSTIN: Thank you.

DORSEY: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com