JetBlue Airways has confirmed reports that say that a passenger on their flight from JFK New York to San Francisco was removed. The statement gave no further details on the incident that brought about the removal of the passenger but the media has reported that the passenger went to confront Ivanka Trump, daughter of the president-elect, who was traveling with her husband and children.
JetBlue has stated that the passenger who was removed was accommodated on the next available flight. In their statement, the airline claims that it is never an easy decision to deplane a passenger, but they would do so if the crew feels the conflict could escalate midflight.
The passenger who went and confronted Ivanka was not named, although the Daily Mail reports that he is a lawyer while his husband was a supporter of Hillary Clinton. The husband, Matthew Lasner, tweeted that his husband would be chasing them down to harass them.
"Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them. #banalityofevil." Lasner has since deleted his Twitter account.
Here is professor @mattlasner's deleted tweet regarding the harassment of Ivanka Trump and her children on JetBlue @Hunter_College pic.twitter.com/FGG5DUaQk8
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) December 22, 2016
There were several reports that the passenger began screaming at Ivanka, questioning why she was on the flight and not take a private jet instead. But his husband, Matthew Lasner, claimed on Twitter that his husband never screamed, but they were still removed from the flight.
"Ivanka and Jared on our flight. My husband expressed displeasure in a calm tone, JetBlue staff overheard, and they kicked us off the plane," he posted.
Marc Scheff, who was on the same flight, and was, in fact, sitting just one row ahead of Ivanka Trump shared on a Facebook post what he saw transpire between the two. Apparently, when the man got on the plane, he was upset when he saw Ivanka and her family. There was no confrontation between the two. He simply stated, "Oh my God. This is a nightmare." Scheff pointed out that the man was visibly shaking while saying this. The man also said that the family was ruining not just the country, but the flight too. This was because the flight was delayed as Ivanka and her family boarded first.
While Scheff said that the man never yelled and accosted Trump directly, he could not be described as someone who was calm either as he seemed agitated. Ivanka Trump never requested for the man to be taken off the flight, according to Scheff.
"When the JetBlue staff went back to speak to the man I overheard Ivanka say to them "I don't want to make this a thing." My assessment is that she was happy to let the man take his seat. She handled the situation calmly and with class. Security made the call to remove the man," Scheff posted on Facebook.
Ivanka Trump has not yet made a public statement about the JetBlue incident.
