WASHINGTON, 19 January 2007 — Northwest Airlines apologized on Wednesday to 40 American Muslims who were barred from a recent flight to Detroit, Michigan, but denied it discriminated against the group.

Northwest Airlines says the Muslim travelers, who were returning from the recently concluded annual Haj, or pilgrimage to Makkah, arrived too late to make the connecting flight. That claim has been refuted by the pilgrims who say they arrived at the gate with time to spare and that airline representatives mistreated them.

The passengers arrived in Frankfurt via a charter flight from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and mistakenly believed they were cleared to board the Northwest flight, but were not.

Northwest said the pilgrims failed to check in one hour before their transatlantic flight from Frankfurt, Germany, was scheduled to depart to Detroit, Michigan, as is required. “The passengers were accommodated on the next available flights to Detroit,” a Northwest spokesman said. “We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused the passengers.”

Reacting swiftly to allegations of discrimination, Northwest denied the airline discriminated against the pilgrims, but said compensation would be discussed. He said some of the pilgrims got on the scheduled flight, while others could not board because they lacked required luggage receipts.

The airline said it would reimburse the pilgrims for the other flights they were forced to take in Germany.

The Jan. 7 incident was taken up by the Council of American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, which said it was pleased with the apology, but wanted clarification and compensation. “Northwest has not taken full responsibility,” Dawud Walid, Michigan director of CAIR, told reporters. He said he would meet this week with airline representatives.

Walid said the problem is that many in the group were bypassed in line by other passengers who were allowed to board the flight.

He said as the stranded passengers left the gate, one overheard an airline worker comment: “’My God, not only are these people Muslims, but they’re Americans too.’”

Andrea Newman, Northwest’s senior vice-president for government relations, said the flight for which the passengers from Detroit were ticketed could have been held at the gate until all were cleared for boarding, and she is looking into why that decision was not made.

She said would travel to Detroit today to discuss those issues and others with Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini and others who were affected by the snafu.