Puerto Rican Senator Karen Román Rodríguez, from the New Progressive Party, was removed from a Frontier Airlines plane on the night of Sunday, April 27 by order of the flight captain because, allegedly, the passengers did not feel safe with her.
The flight was traveling from Orlando, Florida, to San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico.
Frontier is an ultra-low-cost American airline based in Denver.
What is the complaint of the senator from Puerto Rico?
According to the press release published by the senator’s team, “the situation began when the airline canceled the flight from Florida to San Juan on four occasions...In addition, they tried to charge her again for the luggage she had already paid for.”
Then the statement adds that “when Román Rodríguez went to the Frontier counter, she identified herself as a senator and demanded to speak with a supervisor. The incident angered those waiting in line. Someone in the line told her that ‘she was nobody in the United States’”.
After completing the procedure, the senator boarded the plane. However, once seated, the captain asked her to leave the flight, stating that some people did not feel safe with her presence.
The senator alleges discrimination for being a member of the New Progressive Party and for being a pastor: “Never in my life had I experienced any situation in any airline or any other place, since we are law-abiding people. I have certainly been discriminated against as soon as they identified me, not only by the airline staff, but also by some people in the line. I am a pastor and I have been doubly discriminated against. Those who know me and my family know that we are not troublemakers. Simply, because I am a senator of the PNP, I am now discriminated against and defamed.”