A woman who was dragged off a Southwest flight last month says she was booted because of her religion– not because she has a life-threatening allergy to dogs, as the airline contended.



Footage of college professor, Anila Daulatzai, 46, emerged last week, showing her being pulled off a plane in Baltimore.

“Professor Daulatzai was profiled, abused, interrogated, detained, and subjected to false reporting and the trauma of racist, vitriolic public shaming precisely because she is a woman, a person of color, and a Muslim,” her lawyers wrote in a statement released Wednesday.

Southwest crew claimed Daulatzai had asked that any pooches on board be deplaned because she had a life-threatening allergy. The airline said they had to have her disembark because she couldn’t produce a medical certificate proving she could safely travel with animals on board.

But the college professor says she never asked for the dogs to be removed, never claimed her allergies were life-threatening and was never asked for a medical certificate.

“[She] suffered physical injuries and mental trauma, required emergency care at a local hospital,” her lawyers said, adding that this was especially concerning because she is pregnant with her first child.

Southwest stuck to their earlier account of the story.

“Soon after the incident, we publicly apologized to this customer for her experience and made several attempts to contact her directly to address her concerns,” they said in a statement.

Daulatzai’s lawyers say her ordeal didn’t end after she was taken off the flight and that since then, claim she’s received hate mail, threats of violence and racist messages.

They also allege that after Maryland Transportation Authority Police dragged her off the plane they disparaged her, accused her of lying about her pregnancy, and made racist remarks to her, then proceeding to slap her with a slew of criminal charges “which have no merit.”

“[They] pulled her from her seat by her belt loop, dragged her through the aisle exposed with torn pants, and humiliated her for the world to see in a now viral video,” her lawyers wrote.

But the agency disagreed: “Despite her clear attempt to resist a law enforcement officer, Ms. Daulatzai was professionally removed from the aircraft within the guidelines of the MDTA Police,” they said in a statement.

Daulatzai was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, among other charges, court records show.

The Maryland Institute College of Art professor, who’s had teaching gigs at Brown University and Harvard Divinity School, is now traveling to California to take care of her sick father, her lawyers said.

They did not respond to an email about next steps in the proceedings.

The incident comes just months after footage of Kentucky doctor David Dao being violently dragged off a United flight made headlines across the world.