--- title: Sikh Actor Barred From Boarding Flight Because of Turban description: Waris Ahluwalia was trying to fly to New York from Mexico City canonical: https://time.com/4212520/sikh-flight-tsa-turban/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-08T18:51:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:29:47.971Z og:title: Sikh Actor Says He Was Barred From Boarding Flight Because of Turban og:description: Waris Ahluwalia was trying to fly to New York from Mexico City og:url: https://time.com/4212520/sikh-flight-tsa-turban/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta871226ce043cba4/69887ca3cf40a88837c41df2/sikh-wasir-flight-turban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4038 og:image:height: 2271 og:image:alt: 2015 Dubai International Film Festival - Portraits og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sikh Actor Says He Was Barred From Boarding Flight Because of Turban twitter:description: Waris Ahluwalia was trying to fly to New York from Mexico City twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta871226ce043cba4/69887ca3cf40a88837c41df2/sikh-wasir-flight-turban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sikh Actor Says He Was Barred From Boarding Flight Because of Turban > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f50605e3-186c-4077-830a-38eb7af59b44&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Stephany Bai / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Stephany Bai / NBC News Feb 8, 2016 6:51 PM UTC  Actor Waris Ahluwalia poses during a portrait session on day seven of the 12th annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on Dec. 15, 2015 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Actor Waris Ahluwalia poses during a portrait session on day seven of the 12th annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on Dec. 15, 2015 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Gareth Cattermole—Getty Images for DIFF by [Stephany Bai / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Stephany Bai / NBC News Feb 8, 2016 6:51 PM UTC Sikh-American designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia said he was not allowed to board his Aeroméxico flight Monday morning because of his turban, according to posts on Ahluwalia’s social media accounts. Ahluwalia, who is based in New York, was trying to fly back from Mexico City on Monday when he was reportedly refused. Ahluwalia posted a photo on his Instagram account of himself holding his ticket. “This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear,” Ahluwalia wrote in the [caption ](https://www.instagram.com/p/BBhx2prgTNu/)of his photo. [_Read the rest of this story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/sikh-model-refused-onboard-aero-mexico-flight-n513676) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4212520/sikh-flight-tsa-turban/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4212520/sikh-flight-tsa-turban/"},"headline":"Sikh Actor Says He Was Barred From Boarding Flight Because of Turban","datePublished":"2016-02-08T18:51:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:29:47.971Z","description":"Waris Ahluwalia was trying to fly to New York from Mexico City","url":"https://time.com/4212520/sikh-flight-tsa-turban/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","New York","Terrorism","Mexico","World","TSA","flight","Sikh"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta871226ce043cba4/69887ca3cf40a88837c41df2/sikh-wasir-flight-turban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephany Bai / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta871226ce043cba4/69887ca3cf40a88837c41df2/sikh-wasir-flight-turban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2015 Dubai International Film Festival - Portraits","caption":"Actor Waris Ahluwalia poses during a portrait session on day seven of the 12th annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on Dec. 15, 2015 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.","creditText":"Gareth Cattermole—Getty Images for DIFF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4212520/sikh-flight-tsa-turban/","name":"Sikh Actor Says He Was Barred From Boarding Flight Because of Turban"}}]}] ```