 According to the 9/11 Commission Report, the FBI suspected this was a dry run for the 9/11 hijackings.The students filed racial-profiling lawsuits against America West, now part of US Airways, with Shahin as their defense attorney

After the out-of-court settlement was announced in 2009, a "USA Today" editorial called the imams' lawsuit "troubling", and stated that the lawsuit's conclusion could lead "others to act out in hopes of cashing in", and might prevent "passengers from speaking up, or airline crews from acting, when they have reasonable suspicions.