Summary
Orthodox Jewish passenger Yisroel Liebb filed a federal lawsuit claiming a United Airlines pilot forcibly removed him from an airplane bathroom during a January 2024 flight from Tulum to Houston, exposing his genitalia to passengers.
Liebb said he was experiencing constipation and had been in the bathroom for about 30 minutes when the pilot broke the lock and dragged him out.
After landing, Customs and Border Protection officers detained Liebb and another passenger, allegedly making derogatory remarks about their religion.
United Airlines and CBP declined to comment.
A few years ago I would have said there was no fucking way the situation as reported happened. That this side of the story is clearly being hyperbolic and making some stuff up to make it sound worse than it was for the lawsuit.
But given recent events with ICE and CBP… This now seems entirely plausible, which is a ridiculous situation for the country to be in.
An it is United after all. They have a corporate history that definitely lends itself to this being a reasonable story from them.