Eight-year-old Mikey Hicks has a problem, according to his parents. They say one of the 1,600-odd Americans who share his name has done something to get himself on the terrorist watch list, and since he was an infant, Mikey’s had a terrible time flying. From the Times:
Michael Winston Hicks’s mother initially sensed trouble when he was a baby and she could not get a seat for him on their flight to Florida at an airport kiosk; airline officials explained that his name “was on the list,” she recalled. The first time he was patted down, at Newark Liberty International Airport, Mikey was 2. He cried. After years of long delays and waits for supervisors at every airport ticket counter, this year’s vacation to the Bahamas badly shook up the family. Mikey was frisked on the way there, then more aggressively on the way home.
According to a spokesman for the TSA, as a rule “there are no children on the no-fly or selectee lists.” But the TSA wouldn’t comment on Mikey’s case specifically. Hmmm … “It’s quite clear that he is 8 years old,” says his mother. “And while he may have terroristic tendencies at home, he does not have those on a plane.” Or does he?
Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List [NYT]
According to a spokesman for the TSA, as a rule “there are no children on the no-fly or selectee lists.” But the TSA wouldn’t comment on Mikey’s case specifically. Hmmm … “It’s quite clear that he is 8 years old,” says his mother. “And while he may have terroristic tendencies at home, he does not have those on a plane.” Or does he?
