On a Thursday morning JetBlue flight out of JFK, Ivanka Trump was accosted and verbally harassed by a fellow passenger. The man is reported to have started yelling at her about her family ruining the country, and then questioning why she was even on the flight, remarking, “she should be flying private!”
Reports state Ivanka ignored the unruly passenger and distracted her children with crayons.
The passenger was escorted off the flight by Jet Blue personnel. As the man was removed from the flight, he reportedly exclaimed, “You’re kicking me off for expressing my opinion?!” Expressing your opinion is fine and dandy, but things begin to cross a line when “expressing your opinion” turns into verbally harassing another passenger. It doesn’t matter who they are or to whom they are related. Nobody should have to put up with that while confined to a metal cylinder together for several hours.
Other reports claim the incident didn’t exactly proceed the way initially reported by some outlets. A fellow passenger on the flight described the man in the reports as “agitated” once he realized Ivanka and her family were on the flight, but also said that the man did not yell. The witness reported that the man’s comments included “[the Trumps] ruin the country and now they ruin our flight.” He also said Ivanka handled the whole situation well, calling her a “class act” in his Facebook post on the situation.
I agree with JetBlue’s decision to remove the man. The statement released by the airline indicated that the crew “feels the situation runs the risk of escalation during flight.” If there was any possibility that on-board tensions could flare while 35,000 feet in the sky, re-booking the man on the next flight was very likely the best call.
What honestly surprises me is that Ivanka was flying coach with her family, and it does so in a good way. I think it is really awesome that the daughter of the president-elect is rubbing elbows with “everyday Americans” traveling over the holidays. For the record, they did board a private jet to Hawaii after landing in San Francisco.
With somewhat conflicting reports, it is hard to know exactly what transpired. Based on all reports I’ve read, I still believe the JetBlue’s course of action to remove the man was a wise choice.
What are your thoughts on the incident?
Header image courtesy of Michael Gray via Flickr, under CC 2.0 license.Â
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
The passenger was correct. Ivankas father is a disgusting thing.
My thoughts are that the Trump family stands for division, lies, hatred, aggression, racism, religious intolerance, bigotry, misogyny etc etc
No surprise though that you most likely support him being from Utah. The Morman state though has to be the biggest joke in your are so conservative in your lifestyle that you overlook hundreds of despicable Trump issues including bragging about sexual assault because of….. well, er… emails I think.
You yourself have the most to lose also because you have seven kids… who are the future. The world has now been greatly destablized. Also in Utah you have some of the most amazing country and wildlife in the US if not the the world. Trump’s administration promises to attack environmental protections and even undo national parks.
Utah wouldn’t even listen to a poignant and very well thought out attack by Romney on him. True to Republican form though, he now is kissing Trump’s orange ass because, because money and fame are more important than principles and decency.
Honestly I’m sickened by Trump voters. Sickened to my very core.
Hey Andy, a few things:
1) I’m not from Utah. I actually live in California.
2) I’m not Mormon (but yes, Dan is)
3) I didn’t vote for Trump or support him.
You can certainly think what you will of the Trump family. I tried to stay as apolitical as I could in this post.
Politics aside, I don’t think *anyone* deserves to be harassed while confined in a metal tube miles in the sky, enjoying a service *for which they paid*. I still think JetBlue made the right call.
Andy – as Ian pointed out, I did not write the article.
I’m actually not from Utah although I am Mormon, and, along with Ian, I did vote and didn’t vote for Trump either. Though if we’re going to talk facts, Mormons supported Trump FAR less than other conservative religions, and FAR less than they had supported other Republican candidates
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/opinion/campaign-stops/donald-trumps-mormon-problem.html
Trump was destroyed in the Utah caucuses – finishing in a distant 3rd place with 14% of the vote. From the election coverage I read, Mormons were just about the only typically Republican group to say ANYTHING regarding Trump.
But to me that is not the point. If you don’t like Trump, that is fine with me. There is absolutely a time to express one’s opinions, but it is NOT on an airplane, and certainly not to his FAMILY!
And stop trying to give me more kids, I “only” have 6!!!!! 🙂
I missed that this was not written by Dan so apologies for that but not my sentiments
I will say this I wholeheartedly disagree that citizens who see the country on the actual brink of disaster are not allowed to be human and voice emotion.
Listen…. if you could go back in time would you “harass” Hitler given half a chance?
The man is extremely similar to Hitler and giving us way way more warning signs than Adolf did prior to his uprising and impending aggression.
So I don’t give a flying F whether JetBlue made the right call, and I’m sure the pax don’t either, it was undoubtedly a spontaneous reaction to a heinous family sharing the same air as them.
I don’t know if I’d have the same “balls” to call them out directly but I’m certainly proud of and back those that do.
If you voted for Hillary then, I doubt you’d be posting ANYTHING remotely positive about those “people”. Maybe you didn’t vote? If so, I have even less respect for that.
I fear for the future and this at the best case scenario could be the beginning of Rome 2.0 i.e the fall of the American “empire”
Wow, the comments are more fun than the article. I agree with Ian. No one deserves to be harassed on a plane. No matter how much I disagree with the Trumps. I wouldn’t like it if the shoe was on the other foot and someone found something about me that they wanted to call me out on.
We survived 8 years of these : division, rigged Democratic party primaries, a very one-sided media, cops killed on duty, hate crime hoaxes, BLM, occupy Wall Street, manifold increase in health insurance premiums, uncontrolled immigration, sanctuary cities, wars that were never concluded as promised in 2008, several terror attacks in our Homeland etc.
Next 4 years cannot be any worse than the last 16. Ian & Dan, love your posts; don’t get discouraged by pessimistic people. Your children will thrive.
For the record, I got naturalized in 2015 after being in this country for 15 years legally.
No one, especially those travelling with young children, should be harassed this way, whether it is the Obamas, Bush, Clintons or Trumps.
I’m a trump voter BOTH IVANKA AND JET BLUE HANDLED IT RIGHT. IT IS TIME TO COME TOGETHER AND SUPPORT OUR NEW PRESIDENT TRUMP AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
I’m going to go ahead and close comments on this post – if you feel the need to share your general political opinions, please find a politics website to do so