A high-end wedding photographer and his Indian-American family faced a hate-filled wrath from fellow travelers after their United Airlines flight landed in Los Angeles, disrupting the footage.
Pervez Tawfik said he and his wife and three sons flew from Cancun to Los Angeles last week when they encountered another flyer on the same flight on the shuttle bus.
He said the foul-mouthed woman “harassed” her son as he sat next to her on the plane, and yelled racist slurs at him on the bus ride. caught on camera.
In the Nov. 24 recording, the woman says to the man, “Your family is from India, there's no respect, there's no rules. You push everyone away and think it's okay to push and push and push.” spoke. . You guys are really crazy. ”
After Tawfik tells the woman she should tell him again to “eat more curry,” she pulls out her phone to “record the tandoori shit,” according to a video he posted on social media. He reportedly replied that he intended to do so.
According to the video, the father told someone off-screen that the woman was “rude and racist” and should be taken off the bus, and the father then accused her of being “racist” towards him. .
The big-mouthed woman hinted that he wasn't American, but Tawfik shouted back that he was born in the United States.
At the beginning of the video, she showed him the middle fingers of both hands.
“It's one of those out-of-body experiences,” Tawfik told the Post on Sunday. “We've seen things like that on the internet, but we never thought it would happen to us.”
Tawfik, who grew up in Boston, said her first interaction with a fellow passenger was when she went to check on her 11-year-old son, who was sitting a few rows in front of his family on the plane.
While checking on his son, a woman who was sitting in the same row as him became irritated and tried to walk past him and asked if she could take a seat.
“I was like, 'Oh, yeah, sorry,' and then I moved to the side and she took her seat and that was it,” Tawfik said in an interview.
Tawfik said he learned only after the plane landed that the woman had allegedly asked her son if he was Indian, what country he was from and threatened to talk to his parents.
On the shuttle bus between the plane and the terminal, Tawfik accused the woman of telling the children to shut up while the family was talking, and an argument began in front of the cameras.
The footage shows a United staff member approaching the woman as Tawfik yells, “Racist, get off the bus.”
Witnesses told United employees that the woman had incited trouble, and the woman was eventually removed from the car, Tawfik said.
Mr Tawfik believes the woman was “clearly” intoxicated during and after the flight.
An email sent to United on Sunday night was not returned.
Tawfik and his wife work as photographers at luxury events around the world, including more than 200 weddings a year. Due to their packed travel schedule, the couple homeschools their three young sons.
Tawfik received dozens of messages of support after posting about the incident, including one from journalist Katie Couric. What's wrong with people? (You don't actually have to answer that.) What a sick, sick person. And I'm really sorry your children had to be exposed to this. ”
“It was so refreshing to see how many people reached out and made sure we were okay,” Tawfik said.
