Faisal Baig, a U.S. citizen who was raised in New York, claims in the suit that an airline manager told him he was a security risk and couldn't pilot a plane for JetBlue.
JetBlue offered Baig a job in March and invited him to their training school in Florida. The airline even provided him with confidential information on a new Airbus aircraft that officials said he would be flying for them.
But the day before training was to start, he said a manager called him and pulled the job offer.
"She said, 'Your background is complete, but it's your background,'" the woman told Baig, a practicing Muslim.
"'Is it because of where I'm from? My religion?'" he asked. "She said, 'I don't know what to tell you, but JetBlue deems you a security risk.'"
Bryan Baldwin, a spokesman for JetBlue, declined to comment because it is a pending legal matter.
Baig, 40, flew planes for Independence Air for six years before it went out of business and is still looking for a new job. He said the rejection hurt and confused him.
"I've been living in this country since I was 7, and now somebody's telling me I'm not a good American," he said. "September 11th changed a lot of things, and maybe a lot of minds, which is maybe unfortunate. But I don't know how to change that."
The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, seeks an unspecified amount of money.
Copyright 2024 by WRAL.com and the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
