TSA, JetBlue detain 18-month-old traveler
(Associated Press)
(updated 1:05 p.m.)
This much is true: An 18-month-old was pulled from a JetBlue flight and her family was questioned by Transportation Security Administration agents because the airline said the child appeared on a “no-fly” list, her parents said.
The parents said they were sitting on the plane Tuesday night at the Fort Lauderdale airport when a JetBlue staffer asked them to get off, according to a report by WPBF 25 News. The staffer told the parents that TSA agents wanted to speak with them – about Riyanna, their toddler.
“Excuse me?” the mother said she responded. “It made no sense,” the husband told the TV station. “Why would an 18-month-old child be on a no-fly list?” Neither she nor her husband wanted to be identified for safety reasons.
The TSA, however, denies the child was ever on a no-fly list. In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the agency said:
“TSA did not flag this child as being on the No Fly list. TSA was called to the gate by the airline and after talking to the parents and confirming through our vetting system, TSA determined the airline had mistakenly indicated the child was on a government watch list.”
The family was detained for 30 minutes before allowing them to re-board, the parents told the station. The couple, who are of Mideast descent but were born in New Jersey, believe they were singled out because the mother was wearing a hijab, a traditional head scarf. The couple said neither the TSA nor airline offered an apology.
When contacted, JetBlue told the station it was a TSA matter. In a later statement the airline said, “Our crew members followed the appropriate protocols, and we apologize to the family involved in this unfortunate circumstance.”
The family refused to get back on the flight.
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66 comments Add your comment
bigdawg
May 10th, 2012
3:13 pm
Thank you, war criminals Dick Cheney and W, for slam-dunking the Fourth Amendement with your stupid, wasteful TSA nimrods!
“Patriot” Acts, domestic eavesdropping, indefinite detention w/o trial – we are becoming Italy of the late ’30s!
MrLiberty
May 10th, 2012
3:17 pm
realist – “There are billions of people in this world that have to be patrolled”
And there you have the root cause of all of our problems – that kind of mentality in the federal government. It extends around the world as if the US is the only nation on earth worthy of respect.
Our government is the greatest threat to the safety and security of the american people. The terrorists did not destroy the constitution. The terrorists did not destroy the Bill of Rights. The terrorists did not wipe out the protections that free decendents of Britain have had since the Magna Carta was written in 1260 – OUR GOVERNMENT DID. And where were our troops, federal police, etc. while all that was happening??? Killing innocent men, women and children in far away countries that never threatened us or at home molesting young girls, old women, and cripples all in the name of “security.”
Everything our founders and George Orwell warned us about has come true – all with the proud support of way too many sheep passing themselves off as americans.
Keith
May 10th, 2012
3:18 pm
So sorry to see the TSA interrupt the parents’ trip to the middle east for Riyanna’s “circumcision.”
Keith
May 10th, 2012
3:18 pm
So sorry to see the TSA interrupt the parents’ trip to the middle east for Riyanna’s “circumcision.”
pb
May 10th, 2012
3:28 pm
Mr. Liberty,
So the U.S. Middle East policy justifies Al Qaeda and others murdering innocent civliians all over the world? I don’t think so. Yes, maybe our policy needs changing, but the U.S. is still a much better, more free and tolerant country than any in the Middle East. We will never please these terrorists, unless U.S. totally withdraws from all activity in rest of world. And that is not a smart or realistic idea.
realist
May 10th, 2012
3:39 pm
Mr. Liberty, when I say people being patrolled, Im talking about the ones that are flying and driving over our borders. This is our land, we have the right to protect it against anyone who is crossing our border by air, sea, or land. Whatever happened in the Middle East in the past has nothing to do with people crossing our borders. And by the way, terrorist don’t just come from the Middle East, they come from all over the world, even here in the US. All of the instances your talking about, has nothing to do with screening individuals who’s name may be on a wanted watchlist. Yes there are things done everyday in other countries by Americans that are not right, but it has nothing to do with us protecting our land. You sound as if you are ok with people from the Middle East or anywhere else coming here and doing harm, all because we have done stuff that is not right to them before. We will defend our nation. If you have so much sympathy for them and disdain for our government then maybe you should move over there with them. But Im not gonna get in a back and forth with you my friend, you are absolutely right about everything.
This is how it is
May 10th, 2012
3:43 pm
So it seems like some of you are saying it’s ok for them to kill Americans but we shouldn’t kill them we should just let them do what they want… What they want is for us to worship the same god as them and forget the God that the founding fathers built this country on… That is the issue they have you bunch of morons… Little dawg big dawg wannabe why don’t you grace us with what W should have done the instant he found out about the murders that were committed by the idiots with our stolen airplanes…. I am sure you have a much better way of handling it…
pb
May 10th, 2012
3:49 pm
Realist and This is how it is,
I am with you all the way. Mr. “Liberty” thinks he has all the answers, and seems to hate his own country. Rather disgusting…
MrLiberty
May 10th, 2012
4:45 pm
I hate what our government and too many government lap dogs have turned it into. This isn’t the country I was born into. This isn’t the country that was founded in 1776.
MrLiberty
May 10th, 2012
4:51 pm
Nothing justifies murder. But when one constantly pokes the hornet’s nest, one shouldn’t be surprised when one gets stung. And responding by killing thousands of innocent men women and children in response certainly is not a proper response either.
1000 bases in 150+ countries, miltary coups, murderous sanctions, drones killing thousands in dozens of countries, assassinations without due process, manipulation of elections and I could go on…are not the actions of a “civilized” nation nor one that can pretend it is “innocent” in all of this.
“Sure the policy needs changing”… How’s that going? Obama is worse than Bush, who was worse than Clinton, who was worse that Bush, who was worse than Reagan, who was worse than Carter…..
And Romney has already declared that he will be worse than Obama.
MrLiberty
May 10th, 2012
4:52 pm
And we have already killed many times more people than died on 9-11.
bet down
May 10th, 2012
5:48 pm
did they tase him first for “noncompliance?”
sir james
May 10th, 2012
6:08 pm
the tsa is following the patriot act that was written by joe bidden in 1995…yes the joe bidden that now is vice president.the democrats had both houses it was pushed through and signed by president bush.why would joe write something like this?as he stated just in case something happens we [usa congress] will have something ready to put into place.
samo1133
May 10th, 2012
6:58 pm
To all the hate mongers… you are sad, little people hopelessly enslaved by your fear. Blinded by ignorance you unwittingly welcome the systematic erosion of your god-given rights and freedoms in the name of “national security”. You are simple, foolish pawns in the playbook of tyranny – applied throughout history. I truly pity your existence and pray you wake up; for it is your own intolerance and profound misunderstanding that will destroy this land of liberty, not some conjured up externalized threat.
“Then you will know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.”
18-month-old baby pulled from flight, parents interviewed by TSA | Famezine
May 11th, 2012
5:01 am
[...] did not dwindle this child as being on a No Fly list,” a organisation pronounced in a statement to a Atlanta Journal Constitution. “TSA was called to a embankment by a airline and after [...]
JB
May 11th, 2012
4:25 pm
Jet Blue has its OWN NO FLY LIST. This was the problem.
It was JET BLUE all along and initialy basta@d employees from JET BLUE tried to pin it on TSA.
So, I wonder – WHAT IS THIS JET BLUE’s own NO FLY LIST, is this airline exclusivly for white people.