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What happened to six-year old Indian American girl Alyssa Thomas, happened to late Senator Edward Kennedy a few times, when he was stopped at airports because his name was seen on a no-fly list. After a few stoppings, Kennedy's name was later removed from the list.
The family of Alyssa in Westlake, Ohio too is hoping the same."We do not know how her name came in to this list. It is a mistake. We hope it will be removed soon," Dr Santosh Thomas,Alyssa's Father who is the medical director of The Center for Spine Health at Westlake, part of Cleveland Clinic, said.
Airport authorities said that her name was on the list when the family was going to Minneapolis for a baptism. "But there was no additional checking or problem at the airport. We were let go," Santosh said.He said he is not bitter or upset as this is a mistake only and everyone makes mistakes.
When the family tried to clear up the issue with Homeland Security, they received a letter notifying them that it could not be changed. "She's been flying since she was two-months old, so that has not been an issue. In fact, we had traveled to Mexico in February and there were no issues at that time," he told Fox News, which reported the incident first.
Transportation Security Administration told Fox8.com that Alyssa never had any problems before because the "Secure Flight Program" just went into effect in June for all domestic flights."The watch lists are an important layer of security to prevent individuals with known or suspected ties to terrorism from flying," a TSA spokesman said. The family plans to appeal the decision again.
Thomas is New Yorker from Staten Island. His wife Dr Swapna Thomas is from Kansas. Their parents immigrated from Kerala.
In 2004, Kennedy himself revealed that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in that March because his name appeared on the government's secret "no-fly" list.He was stopped because the name "T Kennedy" has been used as an alias by someone on the list of terrorist suspects, according to officials.
While he worked to clear himself, Kennedy kept having to wait in terminals at Reagan National, Boston's Logan International and at least one other airport, his staff told Washington Post then. All of the flights were on US Airways. When the senator checked in at the counter, airline employees told him they could not issue him a boarding pass because he appeared on the list. Kennedy was delayed until a supervisor could be summoned to identify him and give approval for him to board the plane.
The list was established by security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies after the 2001 terrorist attacks.