Posted by
Alex on Monday, October 02, 2006 2:24:23 PM
Unbelievable as it may seem, the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport
authorities have agreed to implement Sharia Law for passengers who
carry alcohol. No, they won't be jailed, but they could be stranded at
the airport by Muslim cab drivers who refuse to carry passengers with
alcohol in their bags. The story was reported last week in the Star
Tribune (the Minneapolis paper) and then by the New York Times. It goes
like this: let's say you have a duty-free bag with a visible bottle of
wine you purchased somewhere. You get out of the MSP airport and look
for a cab. Chances are the driver is from Somalia. There are about 900
cab drivers who service the airport and most are Muslims. So, as you
enter the cab, Mohammed notices the bottle of wine and promptly refuses
to take you anywhere. After all, his religion forbids him to transport
booze. Maybe the dispatcher can find another driver who will take you
where you want to go. At midnight, maybe there isn't another driver
around. Tough luck.
To deal with this "customer service" issue, the Airport Commission is
looking into placing a colored light on top of cabs whose drivers are
(or are not) prepared to carry alcohol. I don't think I've ever brought
alcohol with me on a plane, but believe me, from now on I'll be asking
for a cab driver who will transport any passenger, regardless of what
he's carrying.