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After 40 American Muslims barred from boarding a Michigan-bound Northwest flight from Germany accused the carrier of profiling, the airline is now bowing and scraping with apologies and monetary offers to assuage their outrage.

The group of passengers were traveling back to America following a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia for the recently concluded annual Hajj.

The airline's senior vice president for government relations Andrea Newman told USA Today the incident resulted from a series of mistakes. She says there was a mixup between a German travel agency, the baggage handlers for the charter flight the group had arrived in Germany aboard and information printed on the tickets the group had received prior to the flight.

At a Tuesday news conference in Dearborn, the Muslim pilgrims refuted earlier claims by Northwest they had arrived only 20 minutes prior to boarding. The group maintains they were there at least 90 minutes beforehand, well within airline and international rules regarding overseas flights.

Newman says she will travel to Michigan to meet with members of the group, including a clergyman at the Islamic Center of America, Imam Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini. She also promises to look into why the Northwest flight was not held at the gate until the group was cleared for boarding.

The airline has also offered to reimburse members of the pilgrimage for hotel costs and other flights they were forced to take to get home.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a written statement, "We welcome Northwest Airlines' apology and offer of limited compensation as a positive step toward addressing the concerns of the Muslim passengers."

FMI: www.nwa.com, www.cair.com