Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh actor well-known for his roles in films including 'The Darjeeling Limited' and 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' is calling for better education and policies aimed at religious tolerance and understanding after he was barred from a flight for refusing to remove his turban.
Earlier this week, Mr Ahulwalia was attempting to board his Aeromexico flight to New York from Mexico City when he was stopped at security.
The actor was asked to remove his turban - a Sikh religious garment - at the security checkpoint. Airport staff did not adhear to the more common procedure of conducting secondary security screenings in a private room.
When Mr Ahulwalia refused to remove his turban, he was asked to book another plane.
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Aeromexico has since offered an apology. In a statement on its website, it said it "recognises and is proud of the diversity of its passengers... We apologise to Mr Waris Ahluwalia for the bad experience he went through with one of our security personnel."
"The apology is a brilliant first step and I want to thank Aeromexico for that, but it's a first step," he said.
Mr Ahulwalia did not board another plane. Instead, he's calling for education and policies to be created to train Aeromexico staff and said he was frequently stopped at airports for extra security checks.
"I'm not sitting here angry at Aeromexico. Everyone makes mistakes. I've made mistakes. But what makes us different is how we collect and respond and react to the mistakes we make. They did not know. I cannot blame them for that, but ignorance and fear is the flag humans carry, and we have to be vigilant to fight that." he said.
