The passenger demands sensitivity training and $20 million.
A passenger plans to sue Delta Air Lines after claiming a flight attendant slapped him mid-flight. The passenger and his attorneys held a press conference to recount the events that took place on July 29, 2025. According to the lawyer, the incident was sparked by a Palestine shirt.
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Mohammad Shibli was traveling with his wife and two children, ages two and four, on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Fresno, California. The four-hour flight was delayed, and by the time it took off, the two-year-old, seated with his mother, was crying for water. Shibli’s wife asked a flight attendant for water but was refused, so she texted her husband, who was seated in another row with their four-year-old son. He approached the same flight attendant and was also turned down, but another crew member in the front apologized and served him water.
The situation escalated when the first flight attendant allegedly returned to his row and persistently asked if he wanted anything. Shibli requested to be left alone. “She then asked if I wanted the police to meet me at the gate, insinuating that she was going to have me arrested.” He questioned her, but he says she ignored him and moved to serve other passengers.
He claimed that the flight attendant provoked him by bumping into him, to the point that another passenger asked Shibli, “What’s her deal?” He said the flight attendant then whispered a vulgar word to him, and he retaliated with a “few bad words” of his own. Then the flight attendant struck him with an open palm as hard as she could, he recalled. She continued to serve other passengers without remorse. Shibli pleaded with other flight attendants to intervene, and eventually, the crew member was told to sit at the back of the plane until landing.
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“I was trapped on that plane for almost four hours. It was painful and embarrassing. As a father, I looked helpless in front of my son; as a husband, I was humiliated; and as a passenger, I feared for the safety and security for myself and for my family,” he added.
He also recounted that law enforcement questioned the employee, but he does not know whether she was arrested for the alleged assault.
A witness corroborated these events and confirmed that they heard a smacking sound through their noise-canceling AirPods and turned around to see a man and a crew member yelling at each other.
According to Shibli’s lawyer, Ali Awad, this is not an isolated incident, and Delta has shown a pattern of discrimination and negligent hiring.
Awad cited the controversy last year when Delta’s official X account commented that they would be terrified if someone wore a Palestinian flag (misidentified as the Hamas flag). The carrier later deleted the tweet, apologized for the mistake, and changed its uniform policy, which now allows employees to wear only U.S. flag pins.
He accused the Delta employee of discriminating against the family because Shibli’s wife wore a shirt with the word Palestine on it.
Awad also mentioned two other alleged incidents involving Delta employees: one in which a flight attendant slashed a coworker and a security guard in November last year, and another in which a Delta pilot was arrested on landing last month on felony charges for child sex abuse.
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The passenger is demanding that Delta conduct sensitivity training on Palestine for all employees. As compensation, he has requested a day’s profit from the carrier, estimated by the lawyer to be around $20 million. The attorney also stated that Delta has 30 days to respond once the demand letter is sent.
Delta has confirmed to The Independent that the employee was suspended and an internal investigation is ongoing. The airline told USA Today, “As the safety and security of our customers and employees comes before all else, Delta launched an immediate internal investigation into this incident. While Delta does not comment on internal investigations or pending litigation, we are taking this situation very seriously.”
