United Airlines thought Pakistani Military Delegates were Terrorists

United Airlines is alleged to have mistaken a group of Pakistani military delegates as terrorists. This came after a passenger expressed worries about something she overheard one of them saying. It’s been reported that the delegate had said something about hoping this would his final flight.

The group of 9 members, which included brigadier generals and a 2-star navy admiral, were at the Dulles International Airport in Washington and on their way to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa for a meeting with the US military’s Central Command. A Central Command spokesman said that the meeting was a yearly military consultative committee meeting that they use to coordinate security initiatives.

After boarding the flight on Monday, the delegation was removed from the plane when the passenger told their concern to an airline employee. After talking with airline agents, the carrier was prepared to book them on a flight for the next day, but they decided to return home instead after discussing the situation with commanding officers in Pakistan. The Central Command spokesman said that the group hopes they can reschedule.

A spokeswoman for the carrier didn’t give any details to their side of the story and didn’t say anything about claims that they treated the Pakistani delegation like terrorists. The airline said they recognize the inconvenience and has apologized. It also isn’t known if the military group was detained. Pakistani officials seem to think so, but the carrier doesn’t know anything about it and neither the Department of Defense or Transportation Security Administration were involved.