Community Chat

[wishmoon]

If you aren't guilty of an act, you don't mind answering questions or showing proof, People and organizations have to protect themselves.

[Alison Wonderland]

Do they do that for ALL children? If not, that's racial profiling, period.

I have many friends who are parents, including some of bi-racial children. I've never heard any of them report that an airline asked to prove the children belonged to them before they boarded a plane with them.

[meem120]

Sorry, this sounds like profiling to me.  How many parents are stopped and asked this question??  Child abductions can be of ANY race

[CrazyDaisy]

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@meem120 wrote:

Sorry, this sounds like profiling to me.  How many parents are stopped and asked this question??  Child abductions can be of ANY race

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Profiling?  Not many white women get profiled.  Children are often asked if a person is their mom or dad.  Remember was asked by border patrol when vacationing in Canada many years ago.

[Puppy Lips]

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@Nancy Drew wrote:

The mother is white, the child is biracial. Southwest made the mother show proof she was indeed the mother. I am going to side with Southwest here. If this was a child abduction, Southwest would have be criticized even worse. Darn if you do, darn if you don’t. At the Canadian border I had to answer questions as did my ten year old that it wasn’t a custody abduction because my husband wasn’t with us. We gladly answered.

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I don't see how that does much good.  What is to stop you from lying?

[Laura14]

My brother in law had a similar experience with his daughter at the Canadian border.  Good for them for protecting my niece.  They were both interviewed to make sure they were who they said they were and doing what they said they were doing.

I read an article about this Southwest incident that said any lap child under 2 can not fly without a birth certificate for trafficking reasons.  I believe that is the FAA not Southwest. 

I think the woman had a passport but not the birth certificate which is why she had to answer a few more questions.  Answer them.  The person is just doing their job to keep your kid safe.    

Honestly, everyone is looking for an "ism" in so many places these days, sometimes a question is just a question with a legitimate reason or purpose behind it.  Everyone needs to calm down and be nice to one another again.     

[CrazyDaisy]

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@Puppy Lips wrote:

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@Nancy Drew wrote:

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I don't see how that does much good.  What is to stop you from lying?

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It is not always what you say, it is about how you react.  The mother may have been distracted, nervous about flying with a young child etc.  That may have triggered the additional questions.  Not really a story except for the father being a basketball player and the child being mixed race, guess that is news now.

[Marp]

Excerpts from:  dallasnews.com/business/airlines/2018/05/29/southwest-airlines-apologizes-after-coachs-claim-staffer-asked-prove-biracial-son-child

University of California women's basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who is white, tweeted Monday that the Southwest employee asked her to prove she was the boy's mother because they have different last names, even though Gottlieb had her son's passport.

Gottlieb's fiancé and the boy's father, Patrick Martin, is black. He was traveling with Gottlieb and their son from Denver to Oakland on Sunday, according to The Mercury News.

The coach said the Southwest employee first asked for the boy's birth certificate and then requested to see a Facebook post for proof that Gottlieb was the boy's mother.

[Laura14]

Thank you @Marp. 

Poor flight staff was probably making sure the father wasn't running off with someone and abducting the kid.  Love to see an apology go the other way this time.