The Iraqi university student in California alleges to have been escorted off a Southwest Airlines flight for having a conversation in Arabic.

The airline said Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was removed from a flight on April 9 before it took off.

Makhzoomi claims he was talking to his uncle on the phone about attending a speech by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the BBC reported.

He was then escorted off the plane by a Southwest employee.

Makhzoomi told the New York Times: "I was very excited about the event, so I called my uncle to tell him about it.”

But he said a woman on the plane began to stare at him after he used the phrase "inshallah," which translates as "god willing," during his conversation.

An Arabic-speaking Southwest employee then escorted him off the aircraft, and he was told he could not get back on the plane. "This is what Islamophobia got this country into,” Makhzoomi said.

He first arrived in the US as an Iraqi refugee, and now studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

"My family and I have been through a lot, and this is just another one of the experiences I have had,’’ he told the New York Times. "Human dignity is the most valuable thing in the world, not money." 

Southwest reportedly issued a statement, insisting that that it does not tolerate discrimination and that Makhzoomi was removed for "potentially threatening comments made aboard our aircraft", the BBC said.

"We wouldn’t remove passengers from flights without a collaborative decision rooted in established procedures," the company added. "We regret any less than positive experience onboard our aircraft."