The trio, having become concerned, fearful, and worried about what had happened, took the only option they were given, which was to stay the night in a hotel and depart on a Delta Airlines flight the following morning to Salt Lake City, it added.

Terming the treatment "discriminatory and publicly humiliating", Gulbag Singh said, "I would like to ask the average American to think about how they would feel if they were cleared by security, were sitting on their plane, and then were asked to leave for no good reason. It is ridiculous that a person should be submitted to such second class treatment."

"Sikhs will not stand to be discriminated against. There is no satisfactory justification for US Airways to treat people in this way. This is a clear violation of civil rights and they must take immediate actions to address this issue," said Harpreet Singh, Legal Director of United Sikhs.

In a separate incident on November 17, 2008 at Logan International airport in Boston, it said, one Jaspal Singh was sent to secondary screening where he was subjected to humiliating treatment when a Transportation Security Officer roughly searched his turban, almost untying it.