Babies stopped from boarding planes, names on "no-fly" list
Categories: Media
Yesterday, Leslie Miller of AP reported that babies have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly" or terrorist watch list. Further frustrating matters, families often miss their flights while parents gather passports and and supporting documentation such as birth certificates. Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped in Phoenix before boarding a flight to Washington at Thanksgiving. Sarah Zapolsky and her husband had a similar experience last month while departing from Dulles International Airport outside Washington. An airline ticket agent told them their 11-month-old son was on the government list. Echoing Ingrid Sanden's sentiments, Zapolsky says, "I understand that security is important, but if they're just guessing, and we have to give up our passport to prove that our 11-month-old is not a terrorist, it's a waste of their time." Critics including the ACLU say the government doesn't provide enough information about the people on the lists, so innocent passengers can be caught up in the security sweep if they happen to have the same name as someone on the lists. As if flying with children weren't stressful enough.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Aaron 12-18-2005 @ 6:39PM
This is silly, although yes unfortunately a baby could be used for some unlawful act, but tracking and blocking the people with the baby is all they obviously need to do.
We've gotten on recently where they don't ask for the infant's name (lap child) until you actually board the plane. It doesn't look like the no fly list is even checked at that time.
Hopefully they will fix this problem.
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