American Airlines Pilot Who Refused To Wear A Mask In 2021 Is Suing For Racial Discrimination

by Gary Leff on August 5, 2023

An American Airlines pilot, who identifies as Caucasian, received an indefinite suspension for violating the federal mask mandate in December 2021. He is suing for… racial discrimination.

Pilot Bahig Saliba says he was “misidentified as being Middle Eastern” and so the whole incident at the Spokane airport was an instance of racial profiling, although no profiling appears to have been needed. He showed up at the security checkpoint prior to working a flight to Dallas. He wasn’t wearing a mask. And law enforcement was called when he refused to do so after being asked, despite claiming to have a medical exemption. His lawsuit seeks $23 million from the airport and from police.

While pilots lobbied for and received an exemption from the federal mask mandate allowing them to go maskless inside the cockpit of their aircraft if they chose (some did, others did not) this exemption did not apply inside the terminal.

However anyone medically unable to wear a mask inside the terminal raises questions about their medical fitness to operate an aircraft.

This pilot argues he was medically exempt from mask-wearing inside the terminal but not because of any condition, but because of his piloting duties, which is inaccurate. He claims to have had ‘paperwork’ attesting to his exemption, which is something anyone could have. It makes sense that the TSA would question it.

To be clear, the pilot was breaking a rule but not doing anything wrong in a more fundamental sense.

Saliba already sued his union and that case was dismissed. He sued American and that case was dismissed also.

There was a strong anti-mask, anti-vaccine ideological tendency among major airline pilot groups. Pilot unions have even been negotiating “medical freedom” provisions in their new contracts to counteract future vaccine mandates.

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