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US refuses to allow Muslim family on flight to Disneyland
A family from London has been turned away at Gatwick after checking in to board a flight for a holiday to Los Angeles.
The family of 11 – two brothers and nine of their children – had saved for months for the holiday, which was to include a stay with long-distance relatives and trips to Disneyland and Universal Studios.
They were approached by officials from US Homeland Security as they waited in the departure lounge and told their authorisation to travel had been cancelled.
They were then made to return duty-free items they had bought before being escorted from the airport.
A week on since the incident, no further explanation has been given in and the family is still waiting for an official response. The £9,000 cost for flights will not be refunded.
The family’s MP, Stella Creasy, Labour member for Walthamstow in East London, has asked Prime Minister David Cameron to step in after ‘hitting a brick wall’ herself when she approached the US Embassy.
One of the brothers, Mohammad Tariq Mahmood, said: "The airline said it is nothing to do with them – it’s homeland security. We have asked Stella Creasey to help us try to find some answers.
"I have never been more embarrassed in my life. We were alienated."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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