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Home » News » Should Kuwait Airways Be Banned from Flying to the USA?
News

Should Kuwait Airways Be Banned from Flying to the USA?

Matthew Klint Posted onOctober 7, 2015December 5, 2016 12 Comments

kuwait-airways

Kuwait Airways is in some hot water over its policy not to transport Israeli citizens. After the Kuwaiti flag carrier refused to transport to Eldad Gatt, an Israeli citizen, Glatt complained to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Now in a letter to Kuwait Airways, DOT has accused the airline of breaking U.S. discrimination laws and ordered it to abandon its policy of refusing to transport Israelis or those associated with the state of Israel.

U.S. law states that airlines “may not subject a person, place, port or type of traffic in foreign air transportation to unreasonable discrimination.” Kuwait Airways argues the key word is unreasonable and that if it followed U.S. law it would be forced to break Kuwaiti law. Further, the carrier contends via its lawyers that “it has not violated the above statute…All Kuwait Airways passengers are treated equally within the requirements of applicable laws.”

So what Kuwait Airways is saying that anyone can travel…as long as they are not linked to Israel. In other words, anyone can travel as long as they disavow a quinessential part of their identity. That legal argument will not fly.

It is fair to ask why the heck would an Israeli want to fly Kuwait Airways. Why even connect through a nation that is so hostile to you? The answer is the same reason I would fly Kuwait Airways — cheap fares. Kuwait Airways offer dirt-cheap fares on its Fifth Freedom service between London and New York and offers a host of cheap fares to other destinations as well. Onboard service may be laughably bad, but when the fare is half the price of competitors, it becomes bearable to many consumers.

The airline must now respond to DOT in the next two weeks with how it will abide by U.S. law. I think Kuwait Airways is making a losing legal argument and I find it odd that this company would turn away bonafide customers who are gladly willing to fly them. What do you think?

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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12 Comments

  1. Nf Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 4:33 am

    Most of the Middle eastern and other Muslim countries do not recognize Israel and so doesn’t make sense for Israeli citizens to fly these carriers anyways. This JFK- LHR flight is definitely an exception but again being a state- owned carrier most probably they will not allow Israeli citizens at all as per their policy.

  2. John-Paul Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 3:20 pm

    Just to clarify, Kuwait Airways didn’t refuse to sell him a ticket, he bought the ticket from an obfuscated search engine that was neither from nor to Kuwait, and when he turned up to travel on an Israeli passport he was denied boarding. Slightly different ballgame.

  3. PolishKnight Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    Hehehe. This is unPC but I can’t resist: They can just claim that they are using “positive diversity” and “affirmative action” to prioritize and set goals for ridership using religion as a criteria. Complaints can be sent to their EEOC departement for review (and good luck with that.)

    That’s how it’s done in the states.

  4. semperfi12 Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 3:49 pm

    Wow, you’re very loose with your vocab on a very delicate subject. Let’s say Ms. Gatt were a dual Israeli- US citizen. If she had presented her US passport, she would have been allowed to board and not forced to ” disavow a quintessential part of their identity”. The airline is an extension of the government of Kuwait. The State of Israel and the State of Kuwait do not recognize each other. Any Jewish person can fly Kuwait Airways on a recognized travel document. I’ve flown Etihad with Hasidim men with payot and traditional dress.

  5. Mark Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 4:16 pm

    Being a state-owned carrier, the obvious result is simple: U.S. law cannot permit a common carrier to discriminate against an entire nationality. While it would technically be a violation of Kuwaiti law, Kuwait’s government will simply allow Kuwait Airlines to carry Israeli passengers on routes that do not go through Kuwait City, thus preserving the main thrust of a discriminatory law while avoiding any problems with the U.S. DOT. They will either do this through an official reinterpretation of the Kuwaiti law, or they will tell Kuwait Airlines that they will unofficially refrain from any action. As a state-owned carrier, I believe a gentleman’s agreement is the most likely outcome.

  6. Matthew Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    @SEMPERFI12:

    I maintain that citizenship is a quintessential part of one’s identity and that if Kuwait Airways wants to do business in the USA, it must abide by US non-discrimination laws.

    Imagine if Kuwait Airways had said instead, “We won’t transport Mr. Glatt because he is black or because he is gay.” The system does not work when discrimination is permitted based upon inherent traits like national origin.

    Further, Israel does recognize Kuwait and while Kuwait is free to deny entry into the country to Jews, it should not be able to deny transport to Jews on flights originating from or concluding in the United States. Why? Because if you care to do business in the USA, you need to follow U.S. non-discrimination law. And the Golden Rule thing…

  7. Rocky Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    Let’s turn this around for a minute….El Al flies to several ports in the USA but they certainly wouldn’t allow a citizen from Saudi Arabia or Lebanon fly nyc-tlv-amm. Despite over 130 countries call for Palestine as a sovereign nation, the UN refuses to acknowledge Palestine, therefore most Palestinians cannot leave Palestine or Isreal as the isreali government for the most part refuses to issue isreali passports to Palestinians leaving them reliant on other countries to grant them passport through family relations. Its most likely, and probably has happened that El Al has turned away a Palestinian from their birds or someone whose citizenship is from a hostile country. Yet I don’t see anyone making a stink. How ridiculous and one sided

  8. Matthew Reply
    October 7, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    El-Al does not discriminate on the basis of citizenship and allows any passenger to fly NYC-TLV-AMM.

    A visa would be required to visit Israel for citizens of Saudi Arabia or Lebanon, but no visa is necessary for transiting (see TIMATIC). Visas on arrival are even available for citizens of these nations when traveling in groups of 10 or more.

    This issue has absolutely nothing to do with Palestine. While it is a continuing stain on humanity that peace has not occurred between Israel and Palestine, let’s not confuse one problem with another.

    The Gulf countries who deny Israel’s right to exist certainly provide a stellar example of how Israel should deal with Palestine…

  9. MeanMeosh Reply
    October 8, 2015 at 12:15 am

    Seems pretty cut and dried to me – if a foreign company wants to do business in the United States, it needs to abide by U.S. laws, and vice versa. Discriminatory laws are unfortunately all too common in other parts of the world, but they shouldn’t be able to benefit from the American economic system if they choose to enforce policies that are contrary to U.S. law.

  10. Rocky Reply
    October 8, 2015 at 8:08 am

    @matthew, I wish you or I had a gulf passport. As I’d love to see el al allow a gulf citizen on their jet…yeah right…and based on the discrimination and racial profiling at TLV by their security, we have an entirely different issue. Isreal is a country built on racism and sadly backed by the UN’s security council and because of it has been able to get away with war crimes against Palestinians. Their airline is absolutely no better than their government, as its a state own entity. If it was el al denying someone’s right to transit would the media even care?…probably not, as everything is sickeningly one sided in our press. Furthermore the DOT already ruled on this, but they only reopened the case after Isreal bitched

  11. Nf Reply
    October 8, 2015 at 11:08 am

    Rocky … You are absolutely correct

  12. Matthew Reply
    October 8, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    Rocky, serious question — can you set forth evidence of El-Al denying transport to citizens of Gulf Nations or refusing them transit through Tel Aviv? I would condemn that too.

    Don’t think I don’t understand your view of Israel — I presented a paper to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government on the necessity for the UN to pressure Israel to allow the Palestinians to open up, operate and control Atarot Airport near Ramallah, giving Palestinians their own commercial airport.

    But I don’t understand how you somehow defend Kuwait in this circumstance. Even were I to concede everything you say about Israel, it still does not remotely justify what Kuwait is doing. The answer to crime, is not more crime. The answer to discrimination, is not more discrimination. The answer to bigotry is not more bigotry.

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