Chinese-American pianist driven off US plane

Spirit Airlines drove four Chinese-American passengers off the plane at the international airport in Houston on Dec 8, World Journal, a North America-based Chinese-language newspaper, reported Monday.

Mei Rui, a Chinese-American pianist, planned to take the Spirit Airlines flight from George Bush International Airport in Houston to New York with her parents and her 2-year-old son on Dec 8. Flight attendants came to ask Rui to stop nursing and fasten her baby with the seat belt when she was feeding her baby, and Rui followed the instructions.

Then, all the passengers were asked to disembark. "But when reboarding, several aviation policemen surrounded us and used their bodies to stop us from boarding the plane," Rui said.

Stephen Schuler, director of the public relations department of Spirit Airlines, said they refused to allow Rui's family to board because they disobeyed the flight crew's instructions.

Rui told World Journal that she had fastened her son with the seat belt before all the passengers were asked to disembark.

Holly Barton is one of the passengers on the same plane with Rui. She wrote on her Facebook page that flight attendants were so rude to Rui and tried to kick her off, even though the plane wasn't moving or even about to move. And Barton said she would never fly Spirit Airlines again.

Asian-Americans have been driven off planes more than once in the US. David Dao, a Vietnamese-American doctor, was dragged off a United Airlines plane by three aviation policemen at Chicago O'Hare International Airport to make space for four crew members on a flight bound for Louisville, Kentucky on April 9. He suffered a concussion and broken nose and lost two front teeth, which led to an online uproar against the misconduct.