Mohammad Shibli plans to sue Delta Air Lines because he says that a flight attendant slapped him onboard a flight from Atlanta to Fresno on July 29. He was traveling with his wife and two children. He wants $20 million and mandatory Palestine sensitivity training for all Delta employees.

• Shibli claims that a flight attendant initially refused his request for water because the serving cart wasn’t at their row yet. His two year old was thirsty and he didn’t want to wait. They did get water from another member of the cabin crew.

• When the flight attendant made it to his row, they had words. He says she later bumped him. And, he says, the crewmember later slapped him open‑handed.

• At a press conference with his attorneys, they shared a witness statement claiming that the slap was loud enough to be heard through noise‑canceling earbuds.

• Shibli says he did not retaliate and sat through 4 hours remaining in the trip, feeling humiliated in front of his family. He says law enforcement questioned the flight attendant on arrival.

According to the airline,

While Delta does not comment on internal investigations or pending litigation, we are taking this situation very seriously. This flight attendant has been suspended while the investigation is ongoing,

Shibli is demanding:

1. One day of Delta Air Lines profits because ‘Delta gave him one bad day’, which they peg at $20 million. (Delta earned $5 billion in pre-tax income last year. That is $13.7 million per day. The high end of earnings guidance for the year pegs profit per day at $11 million. They are taking only the second quarter and rounding up.)

2. Sensitivity training and education for all Delta employees about Palestine. He says his wife was wearing a Palestine shirt, and notes that Delta won’t allow flight attendants to wear Palestine flag pins.

TODAY my law firm announced our legal demand against @Delta Airlines for physical assault and discrimination against my Palestinian Muslim client – who was smacked in the face by a Delta attendant in front of his 4-year-old child.

Our demand is simple:

1) EVERY Delta employee…

— ceolawyer (@ceolawyer) August 26, 2025

In fact, Palestine flag pins have always been against Delta’s uniform policy. The airline pretended that it wasn’t, did not discipline cabin crew who wore them, and simply said that prospectively pin choice would be limited. Delta got slammed by the AFA-CWA union anyway, that’s trying to organize the airline.

Hey @Delta – did you add Palestine as a new summer route?

Your customers on a Boston to West Palm Beach flight yesterday were perplexed to see your flight attendant adorning a flag of Palestine pin. pic.twitter.com/Ia79COL2ea

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 6, 2024

Last time we checked @Delta, your airlines is American based with no flights to “Palestine”.

Why is your employee at Ronald Reagan Airport wearing a Palestinian flag? pic.twitter.com/qyguQ7KLWn

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 1, 2024

Here’s the press conference announcing the planned lawsuit.

This is.. obviously not a serious lawsuit. While they can certainly sue in Georgia for assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, it will be hard to make Delta liable for a slap by a crewmember, and succeed with punitive damages. Even if they can, this case isn’t worth more than $250,000 – $20 million is just passenger fan fiction.

• Delta will argue that any intentional slap was outside scope of her duties and and purely personal. The plaintiffs need Delta to be vicariously liable for the employee’s peronal assault which faces a high bar in Georgia.

• The plaintiff will have a hard time showing negligent hiring or supervision, tha the airline knew or should have known this flight attendant had a propensity for violence against passengers without a history of such incidents.

• We don’t know that the ‘slap’ occurred as-described, and in addition to disputing facts Delta is likely to argue justification, either in terms of self‑defense or that the crewmember was acting in a safety capacity to maintain order against passenger interference. 14 C.F.R. § 121.580 and 49 U.S.C. § 46504 aren’t going to authorize battery as such, but Delta can argue actions were reasonable in context.

• Delta will certainly argue that the claims are pre-empted by the Airline Deregulation Act, but that has a high bar for personal injury claims in the Eleventh Circuit.

Ultimately though there are two forms of damages on the table:

• Compensatory: medical costs plus wage loss and pain and suffering. There’s no material medical cost or wage loss here, just embarassment in the passenger’s own words.

• Punitive: there needs to be clear and convincing proof of willful misconduct, malice, wantonness, etc. on the part of Delta. Outside of product liability or intoxication, this is usually capped in Georgia at $250,000 without specific intent to harm.

Unless Delta told the flight attendant to go attack passengers whose families are wearing Palestine shirts, there’s probably no punitive damages here let alone $20 million. A Georgia jury – even a sympathetic one – cannot legally award this.

But maybe the most 2025 thing ever here is that the passenger is being represented by ‘@CEOLawyer’ and @KarateAttorney.