A pilot says his dream job with JetBlue crashed and burned because he was born in Pakistan.
Faisal Baig, 40, is an American citizen who moved to the United State at age 7, but that didn’t stop the airline from labeling him a “security risk” because of his national origin, Baig says in a discrimination lawsuit.
Baig’s lawyer, Derek Smith, said the married dad, who grew up in Yonkers and now lives in North Carolina, is anything but a risk.
“He’s just an American trying to get a job like anybody else,” Smith said.
Baig claims he was told he’d been hired by JetBlue in February, a month after losing a job because the airline for which he had flown six years went belly-up.
He was sent a new hire packet and a ticket to go to Orlando for Airbus A320 training at “JetBlue U.”
But just before he was due to report, an airline exec called and said he “was no longer hired . . . Given your background and seeing where you’re from, JetBlue considers you a security risk,” the suit says.
“Are you saying that you are not hiring me because of my name or my religion . . . Are you saying you are not hiring me because of where I’m from?” the suit quotes Baig as asking and getting the response, “Yes.”
“I was devastated,” Baig said. “I’ve been living in this country since I was 7, and now somebody’s telling me I’m not a good American.”
A rep for JetBlue did not return a call for comment.