Family of "no-fly list" toddler wants apology
The family of Riyanna was pulled off a JetBlue flight in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and told the 18-month-old toddler's name turned up on a no-fly list. / WFOR
(CBS/AP) MIAMI - The family of an 18-month-old girl who was pulled off a flight because airline employees thought her name was on the U.S. no-fly list does not plan to take any legal action, but they are looking for an answer - and an apology.
Family spokesperson Rick Abbott told The Associated Press Friday that the family wants an explanation from JetBlue, which blamed the problem on a computer glitch.
An airline employee boarded the Newark, N.J.-bound flight before it departed Tuesday evening from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, telling the family their toddler, named Riyanna, was on the federal list that includes thousands of known or suspected terrorists.
Report: Toddler appears on "no fly" list, booted
After about half an hour, they were told they could re-board the plane. The couple said they didn't get an apology or an explanation, and refused to re-board because they were too embarrassed by what happened.
The couple told CBS Station WFOR they felt they were being singled out, as they are of Middle Eastern descent. However, they are American-born, and raised in New Jersey. (They asked that their full names not be revealed because they feared repercussions.)
JetBlue said its employees were following proper protocol.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said the girl never was flagged by the agency, and that the fact the family had obtained their boarding passes meant they were not on a no-fly list.
In a statement the TSA said they were called to the gate by the airline. "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."
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The way I am uderstanding this, ehich is subjective of course, there are those powers-to-be who are a bit nervous, and I think this
article has drawn a bit too 'heat' that they care to stand. My assumtions could be completely wrong, but if they were, then why the
retraction and denial posted later?
For the powers-that-be, he best way to handle something like this is to change the metrics... to change the article itself and 'offload'
some of the heat. Why need to do something like this if there wasn't something 'more' to this story.
So, the notice at the bottom of the article indicates just that, that they had changed the story, or at least changed it's outcome. I call
it 'Changing the metrics'. They are now essentially denying that the purported event ever occured (regardless what the evidence states),
or what did occur was not as serious as the Family spokesperson Rick Abbott claimed.
With any issue, there are those who are for, and those who are against. It would literally take thousands of pages to explore that issue in depth.
For this reply, I'll just briefly touch upon the subject.
To begin, those who do not believe that our rights are being eroded as we speak, perhaps, then they should play closer attention to the facts in these cases, as well others, not the propaganda, certainly there is hyperbole on either side. But that is where conducting your own independent investigations into these matters.
Racial profiling, the practice continues even now, even though it is denied. Profiling, as we know it, couldn't be more insidious.
Involved in this case are two parents and a baby, all of which are of Middle-Eastern decent, and all of whom are natural born American citizens. If the parents and baby were considered white, would have the results changed? Of course they would have.
Profiling is a means to an end. Once the TSA realized their mistake and told them that they could re-board the plane but yet never offered an apology; would you have re-boarded that flight?
They were American Citizens, and yet, their 18 mo. Childs name appeared on their no-fly list...how did that happen anyway? Still, the TSA agent who was responsible for boarding these passengers certainly could have handled the scenario much differently, do you not agree?
Racial profiling is so obvious, it comes naturally to most people... yet they try to suppress the urge to do so. Police officers are notorious for profiling because the claim that a particular racial group is much more likely to commit a crime than another group.
Also, why is it that racial group(s) who are unfortunately the subject of profiling, are almost guaranteed, to be compared to another group... one that is acceptable to society as a whole?
The child in question here, as illustrated in the article... did that child have a choice as to what race they belonged to? Well, obviously and absolutely not. If that TSA Agent ad taken 3 seconds to realize that the toddler was actually a female
Now, what are the odds that an 18mo., female toddler was indeed a terrorist? Yea, right... very, very funny.
You know... it's very strange, but true. People ask all the time how do we stop racism, or racial profiling, etc. The answer is so simple you would think it absurd. Ready? Really want to know how?
Just stop talking, inferring, or referring to race when talking about a person... There is no reason to ever bring up race in a conversation.
Of course, there are a few... very few instances where we need to discuss race. One instance being in a medical setting, discussing a disease that affects some races more than others.
In conclusion, in order to eliminate racial profiling you must first eliminate racial discrimination. For all the law enforcement personnel who seem to really get off on racial profiling... Perhaps you should look for, and jump into, the nearest pit full of urine and feces, and then you can do all the racial profiling you want without anyone disturbing you, and be the racist that you've always wanted to be.
hypnotoad72 said, "This demand for an apology is utterly unwarranted. Indeed, I feel more sorrow for the TSA and others - who get damned when they do their job... and would get damned more if they didn't, so if anyone thinks the TSA should blindly let anyone through, you people are NUTS. PERIOD."
------
Take a deep breath, and try reading the story for comprehension. None has said TSA should wave through every passenger who wants to board-- neither the TSA, nor the airline, nor even Riyanna's parents.
All Riyanna's parents have asked from JetBlue is an apology-- an apology for a human decision that was admittedly in error.
1. On the basis of evidence presented so far, the TSA, itself, was not involved in the misjudgment that a toddler should be pulled off a flight. According to the TSA, 18-month-old Riyanna is not on any no-fly list and never posed a danger to her fellow passengers.
2. The TSA, in effect, agrees with the parents of Riyanna that the JetBlue action was baseless.
3. Apparently, JetBlue agrees, as well. After all, Riyanna and her parents were issued JetBlue boarding passes, which is final certification by JetBlue that a passenger is cleared by security for the flight.
4. The inference reasonable people will make is JetBlue protocol is not the cause, but a fallible human interpretation of that protocol. People make mistakes, and some JetBlue employees made a serious mistake.
5. Instead of issuing a simple apology, as Riyanna's parents requested, JetBlue issued a finger-pointing defense, indicating management senses a legal liability. It should-- profiling is not official policy at TSA or anywhere else.
6. A request for an apology is the least that any of us would consider in similar circumstances. An apology is simply a confession of a mistake, and an expression of regret for the inconvenience it may have caused.
So, how very curious that Riyanna's parents receive no credit for their dignified, peaceful behavior-- they match no violent stereotype of any kind.
Clearly, Riyanna's parents are people like you and me, except in one respect. Failing to get an apology from JetBlue, they have not taken legal action-- even if many of us certainly would have. (And should.)
You are mentally ill due to your hatred and ignorance. You're damn scary.
From all the articles I have read, the child was NOT on the "No-Fly List"
"The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said the girl never was flagged by the agency, and that the fact the family had obtained their boarding passes meant they were not on a no-fly list."
The airline employee made a mistake... Who is a representative of the airline... Who is responsible for the mistake.
The family DESERVES an apology.
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Jet Blue has mounted a damage control campaign with assertions that are self-contradictory, and at the very least, confusing to the public.
Parsing those JetBlue statements takes time, and more careful reading than most have given this incident.
Ineedstuff may have reached his conclusion about JetBlue behavior before you, but don't let envy conceal your admiration.
I now live in a village surrounded by spectacular displays of nature. There was a noble family from Spain living in my home 30 years before the Pilgrims stepped foot on Plymouth Rock. The history and elegance of the structure give me comfort and constant enjoyment. I have learned the language and am accepted by all.
Many years ago I graduated after ten years of study only to be immediately drafted and placed in OTS before shipping out to Nam. I had four job offers waiting for me and returned to none, only a life walking with a cane and enough time on my hands to watch the U.S. restore relationships with Vietnam and become a trading partner as if nothing had happened. Just as would later happen twice in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we were told the lie that we were defending our nation. The more than fifty thousand that died had, of course, had families who were told that they died in defense of America's freedoms.
I returned and was soon engulfed in the American philosophy of human existence. I was working six months a year to pay federal taxes and a little more to pay the eleven percent income tax of the state where I lived. That did not include property tax or the capital gain tax I paid when I sold my boat to avoid dock charges and insurance. I was soon like a volunteer working on a federal project of how to have someone work more to pay more to enjoy less.
So okay, tell me good riddance. That's exactly what I said when I got on the plane. It goes both ways and has nothing to do with patriotism. If America was still the nation it was intended to be, a legitimate patriotism would be known and deserved. If government was dedicated to public service instead of control, the call for patriotism would be well heeded. If people had the collective courage to reclaim their rights and social dignity from the maze of federal agencies, it would again be a nation worthy of its people.
There are more Amercians living abroad today than ever before in history. They are not traitors or those who abandon their obligations to a nation. They are people in search of themselves in places that permit them to experience a new kind of freedom. You cannot condemn them, they represent a secret part of each of you that at one point of your life wished that you were somewhere else.
And that includes me.
This demand for an apology is utterly unwarranted.
Indeed, I feel more sorrow for the TSA and others - who get damned when they do their job... and would get damned more if they didn't, so if anyone thinks the TSA should blindly let anyone through, you people are NUTS. PERIOD.