(AP) Six Muslim clerics who were refused tickets by US Airways booked flights back home Tuesday on another airline, but it still wasn't clear what led to their removal from their original flight.

The imams had attended a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Omar Shahin of Phoenix, president of the group, who was one of those removed from the flight. Three of them said their normal evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding the Phoenix-bound plane, he said.

"They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way," Shahin said after the incident on Monday night.

The next morning Shahin called for Muslims and non-Muslims to boycott US Airways unless the company changes its ways. "They know what they have to do, they have to be fair and just with everybody," he said.

A passenger raised concerns about the imams through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to airline spokeswoman Andrea Rader. Police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and the men refused, Rader said. She said the rest of the flight's 141 passengers and five crewmembers were re-screened for boarding and the plane took off about three hours after the men were removed.

Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said some witnesses said some of the imams made anti-American comments about the war in Iraq before boarding the flight, and that some of the men asked for seat belt extensions even though a flight attendant thought they didn't need them.

"There were a number of things that gave the flight crew pause," Hogan said. It wasn't immediately possible to verify whether the passengers who reported suspicious activity witnessed it themselves.

Shahin said Tuesday that three members of the group prayed in the terminal before the six boarded the plane. They entered individually, except for one member who is blind and needed a guide, Shahin said. Once on the plane, the six did not sit together, he said.

"We did nothing" on the plane, Shahin said.

Shahin said no one from the airline asked the six to leave, but when police arrived, the group complied.

Of the six Muslim scholars, five of them were from the Phoenix-Tempe area, while one was from Bakersfield, Calif., Shahin said.

When the imams went to the airport Tuesday morning to try to use their tickets or buy new ones, US Airways refused, and said their payment for Monday's flight had been refunded. Airline spokesman Morgan Durrant said afterward that he was not aware of the ticketing decision and could not comment.

They eventually booked a flight to Phoenix on Northwest Airlines for later Wednesday.

US Airways Group Inc. issued a statement saying it was interviewing crew members and ground workers to find out more about what happened.

"We are always concerned when passengers are inconvenienced and especially concerned when a situation occurs that causes customers to feel their dignity was compromised. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind," the airline said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations planned to file a complaint, said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.

"Because, unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it's one that we've been addressing for some time," Hooper said.

Hooper said the meeting drew about 150 imams from all over the country, and that those attending included U.S. Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minneapolis, who just became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Shahin said they went as far as notifying police and the FBI about their meeting in advance.

Shahin expressed frustration that — despite extensive efforts by him and other Muslim leaders since even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — so many Americans know so little about Islam.

"If up to now they don't know about prayers, this is a real problem," he said.

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