‘The whole situation was bizarre,’ mother tells Florida TV station

An American couple of Middle Eastern descent say they and their 18-month-old daughter were asked to leave a JetBlue plane in Florida because they were told the child is on a no-fly list.

The incident happened Tuesday night at an airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as the family was preparing to fly home to New Jersey, WPBF 25 West Palm Beach reported.

A JetBlue employee told them they had to leave the plane and that an agent with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wanted to speak with them.

“He said, ‘Well it’s not you or your husband — your daughter was flagged as no-fly,’” the girl’s mother recalled.

“The whole situation was bizarre,” she told the TV station. “It made absolutely no sense.”

They were allowed to re-board the plane about 30 minutes later, but they refused, saying they were too embarrassed to fly on the airline.

The couple’s young daughter, Riyanna, has been on planes several times before, and even has her own frequent flyer card.

Her parents asked that they not be identified. All three members of the family are U.S. citizens and were born and raised in New Jersey, WPBF reported.

The girl’s father said he thinks they were targeted because the family is of Middle Eastern descent and his wife wears a head scarf.

“We were humiliated, we were embarrassed, we were picked on,” he said.

The airline said the TSA was responsible for the incident, while the TSA said the airline was to blame.

Both JetBlue and the TSA said they are investigating.

AP | Officials: Would-be Bomber an Informant for CIA

A Flickr photo shows a computer in a TSA airport office with a desktop image of a satirical book entitled “My First Cavity Search.”

More than a decade after 9/11, heightened security at U.S. airports has become routine, yet some religious and minority groups say they’re unfairly singled out for even more screening. Well, now there’s an app for that.

The mobile app is called FlyRights. Travelers who suspect they have been profiled take out their smartphone, tap a finger on the app and answer about a dozen questions. Then they hit “submit” and an official complaint is filed immediately with the Transportation Security Administration.

The app is the work of civil rights groups led by The Sikh Coalition. Amardeep Singh, co-founder of the Coalition, says the idea came from Sikh entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley who felt they were being stopped unfairly at airports, too often.

“They literally said to one of our staff members, ‘There should be an app for that’,” Amardeep said. “We thought, great idea, let’s start working on it.”

The app has already been tested with the TSA. Amardeep hopes the app will encourage more people to file complaints so that there is more accurate data on improper screening.

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