WARNING:Previously common behavior may look suspicious
My nephew (28) flew from Ft.Lauderdale through Atlanta with ORD as the final destination. Upon boarding the plane, before take-off, he needed to go the bathroom. He went back to his seat. He was seated 3 across. The row on the other side was empty, so he moved over. They announced that everyone should be in their seats, so he moved back. After a few minutes 2 guards went on board and asked him to deplane. He was told that a passenger thought his behavior looked suspicious. It does not help that my nephew, an Israeli born offspring of an Israeli mother and American father (my brother) was given the name AMIR, which means prince in Hebrew. It is also an arabic name. He was not questioned extensively at that point, but given a plane ticket for a flight 2 hours later. He saw that there was a flight that left an hour sooner, and asked the ticket agent if he could get on this flight. Again, after being seated, he was asked to deplane. Again the behavior was considered suspiciou. At this point 7 police officers interrogated him, looked through his luggage extensively, and confronted him on his name - how would he have it. He explained. His parents live in Canada, and he also a Canadian citizen, but he travels on his American passport - an American by virtue of his father being American. They questioned why he had citizenship as a Canadian. They finally released him and allowed him to fly, with 2 marshalls on either side of him. His life was suspicious. So, a jew, grandchild of holocaust survivors, as American as you can get, became a suspicious character, I think because his name is AMIR. Profiling at it's best. He was glad that security is heightened, however he said, he was never patted down, and if, in fact, he was a hijacker could have had something in his shoe or back pocket. Perhaps they would have frisked him if after interrogating him they remained suspicious. They gave him no apology in the end. He was even wearing red, white and blue.
So be careful!
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DtG