An American Airlines flight was delayed after a woman said she is suspecting the passenger beside her as a terrorist after she thought the scribbles of equations were a threat. The airline company confirmed the said incident on Saturday.
According to the Guardian, the woman told them that the passenger, Guido Menzio, who was seating next to her was writing sometihng weird on the paper, which raises her suspicions that he might be a terrorist. However, it was revealed that Menzio was an Economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
In order to inform her suspicions to the airline staff, the woman told them that she can't continue the flight because she was not feeling well. Menzio was on board the flight to travel to Syracuse on Thursday. At the time, the professor was scribbling on a paper.
The woman found the scribblings too odd as Menzio was intensely focused on what he was doing. Washington Post reported that she informed the flight attendant through a written note. The plane, ready to take off, then returned to the gate and the passenger left. Menzio was then asked to disembark the plane and "met by some agent".
According to the professor, he thought he was just being asked to know clues regarding the woman who was ill seated next to him. However, they told him he is suspected terrorist due to his strange writings on a pad of paper.
Menzio, who is Italian and has curly dark hair, said he laughed and returned to the plane to show and explained that he was solving on Math equations, Think Progress cited. After the misunderstanding was resolved, the plane eventually took off after more than two hours of delay.
Ivy League Economic professor said he was "treated respectfully throughout" the process. Last year, he was awarded the prestigious Carlo Alberto Medal, given to the best Italian economist under 40. Guido Menzio said he boarded to Ontario where he would give a talk at Queen's University on a working paper.
