Christians Under Attack

Airport officials gave up Tuesday on a proposal to meant to ensure that travelers carrying liquor don't get stranded at the curb by Muslim cabbies who refuse to transport alcohol.

Hundreds of the taxi drivers who serve Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are Muslims, and many of them, citing Islamic prohibitions against alcohol, refuse to knowingly take passengers who are carrying see-through bags of duty-free liquor, wine boxes from the Napa Valley and the like.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission had been working with the Muslim American Society and taxi companies on a pilot program under which drivers who won't take riders carrying alcohol would put a different top light on their cabs. That would have allowed airport employees to direct these travelers to willing drivers.

But the Metropolitan Airports Commission said the public response was overwhelmingly negative, and some taxi companies feared that people opposed to the system would switch to other forms of ground transport instead of cabs.

Also, MAC noted, back in May when discussions began cabbies were refusing customers with alcohol an average of 77 times per month. But since then, the government has imposed new security rules that prohibit travelers from taking most liquids through security checkpoints, except in containers smaller than three ounces.

That's led to a sharp drop in travelers carrying alcohol -- so fewer are being refused service by taxi drivers.

Jeff Hamiel, executive director of the airports commission, said he hopes representatives from the taxi industry will keep working toward a solution.

"The bottom line is that no one should be denied taxi service simply because they have alcohol in their possession," Hamiel said.

For now, though, taxi drivers who refuse to carry these travelers will continue to forfeit their place in the taxi queue and return to the back of the line, which often means a three-hour wait for another fare.