The Nonflying Nuns - More

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/02/bu...rint&position=

March 2, 2004 New York Times
ON THE ROAD

Airport Hurdles and the Nonflying Nuns
By JOE SHARKEY

(many paragraphs cut)

Four Roman Catholic Carmelite nuns born in India might have strong views
on that, if they were uncharitable enough to express them strongly, which
they are not. Their experience involved airline security, not the T.S.A.

"That was a not-so-pleasant experience of our trip. Hope no one will have
to go through what we went through," is basically as far as Sister Tessy
Pius would go, in a letter she sent to parents of pupils at Mary
Immaculate Queen School in Lemoore, Calif., where she is the principal.
The letter explained why she and three nuns she was traveling with on Jan.
2 were tossed off an American Airlines flight awaiting departure to
Fresno., Calif., from Dallas after someone on board reported smelling - I
kid you not - sulfur. (Sister Tessy's school faxed the letter to me but
she didn't respond to a request for comment.)

All passengers were taken off the plane while it was inspected. No problem
was discovered and passengers were allowed back on except for the four
nuns, who were dressed in their Carmelite habits: dark robes and the sort
of modern veils that many nuns adopted after Vatican 2.

An American Airlines representative "took our boarding passes and made us
wait in a corner," Sister Tessy wrote. Asked why they were prohibited from
boarding the plane, the airline representative replied that "the crew
members and the pilot were uncomfortable taking us in and they did not
want us on the plane."

The representative "looked at our picture ID's and realized that we were
not just newcomers to the United States," Sister Tessy wrote. But still
the nuns were not allowed on the plane, which took off without them. The
nuns, who were recruited from a convent in India to teach and provide
social services at the small Catholic school, eventually found another
flight and got home six hours later than expected, Sister Tessy said.

The nuns were returning from a Christmas visit to a convent in Kansas.
Lemoore is a town of about 20,000 in the San Joaquin Valley near Fresno,
Calif. The incident was reported on Feb. 13 in The Fresno Bee.

According to an American Airlines spokesman, Carlo Bertolini, the four
nuns and two other passengers were singled out for extra security
inspection because they were seated in the area where the sulfur smell was
reported. "Our policies prohibit discrimination of any kind," Mr.
Bertolini said. "This was not a discriminatory situation. It was basically
a miscommunication over the screening process."

"Our customer relations department has sent them a letter," he said, "and
apologized for the inconvenience they experienced and for the
miscommunication."

(two short paragraphs cut)


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