Praying passenger removed from S.F.-bound flight at JFK 55 minutes ago



A passenger who left his seat to pray in the back of a plane before it took off, ignoring flight attendants' orders to return, was removed by an airport security guard, a witness and the airline said.

The Orthodox Jewish man, who wore a full beard, a black hat and a long black coat, stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines jet was being boarded at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, fellow passenger Ori Brafman said.

When flight attendants urged the man, who was carrying a religious book, to take his seat, he ignored them, Brafman said. Two friends, who were seated, tried to tell the attendants that the man couldn't stop until his prayers were over in about 2 minutes, he said.

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

When the man finally stopped praying, he explained that he couldn't interrupt his religious ritual and wasn't trying to be rude. But the attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.

The plane, Flight 9 to San Francisco, took off without the man. It landed at its destination as scheduled, Brafman said by telephone from his home there.

Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United Airlines, a subsidiary of UAL Corp. with headquarters in Chicago, confirmed the man was taken off the plane and put on another flight Thursday morning.

Urbanski said flights cannot depart if all passengers are not in their seats, which risks a delay, and it is important that passengers listen to the instructions of the flight crew.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area airports, and the Transportation Security Administration, which handles airport security, said Thursday they weren't involved in the incident.

I see nothing wrong with his removal.

why'd he have to pray right then? is there a reason? i don't see it mentioned.

Maybe he was praying not be taken off the plane.

I see nothing wrong with his removal.

I imagine that the story is more involved than what has been reported here. He might have exhibited some belligerent behavior that the crew found unacceptable. Why remove him after he had finished his prayer and was ready to return to his his seat?

To say that this fellow was "religious" doesn't have a precise meaning. Orthodox Jews have no single governing body or set of customs. They are all strictly observant, but even those from specific movements such as the Haredim or the Hasidim observe based on the customs of their communities.

Stop trying to philosophize with everything...

But why?

Because you sound like an idiot when you say the word '"religious" might not be pertinent in this situation.

He wasn't removed because he was "religious."

Well, actually, it's not. He wasn't removed because he was "religious."

And my tendency to, as you put it, "philosophize" does not have anything to do with defining what the word "religious" means in terms of a single Orthodox Jew.

And you seem terribly offended by me. I'm not sure that is a rational response to me.