Continental Air Settles U.S. Suit Alleging Post-9/11 Ethnic Bias

The federal government announced a settlement Friday with Continental Airlines Inc. over allegations that the carrier discriminated after the Sept. 11 terror attacks against travelers believed to have been of Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent.

The Transportation Department started getting complaints about a number of Continental flights in the weeks after the attacks, agency spokesman Bill Mosley said. He said four passengers complained that they were removed from flights because of their ethnic background or national origin.

Continental maintains no wrongdoing, but the airline has agreed to provide civil rights training during the next two years to its pilots and cabin crews.” Concerns about aviation security in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks do not justify discrimination,” Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in a statement.

This is the third settlement regarding complaints of discrimination against airline passengers in the weeks after the terror attacks, the department said. It settled similar allegations with UAL Corp.’s United Airlines last year and with AMR Corp.’s American Airlines in February.