Coral Springs boy, 7, on no-fly list has been delayed at airport three times

By Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jul. 26, 2007

Michael Martin went through a hassle trying to fly out of Fort Lauderdale recently because his name was on a no-fly list. Rather than protest to authorities, he nervously turned to his mom for comfort.

"He thought he did something wrong," his mother, Krista Martin, 36, of Coral Springs, said.

Michael Martin is only 7 years old, a typical youngster who enjoys skateboarding and playing drums. Because he shares a name with a known or suspected terrorist, he has run into roadblocks three times before boarding an airliner, Krista Martin said.

Each time, she was unable to quickly obtain a boarding pass for him online or via an airport kiosk. She had to march to a check-in counter to sort things out, which she said was mostly an inconvenience but also "exasperating."

At the time she makes reservations, she said she lets the airline know her son's age. But she still ends up being denied ease of booking and boarding, she said.

"It's been happening since 9-11," she said. "I just think it's kind of ridiculous to put a 7-year-old boy on a no-fly list."

The no-fly list is compiled by the Transportation Security Administration and includes only people who are a "known threat to aviation," said agency spokesman Christopher White. That means known or suspected terrorists, not unruly passengers, he said.

The list includes detailed information about each person on it, including law enforcement records. The idea is to avoid confusing a real terrorist with an innocent passenger, officials said.

Still, Michael Martin — the child — most recently ran into problems on July 3, when his mother booked a flight on AirTran Airways to Baltimore for vacation. After a kiosk refused to spit out a boarding pass, she asked an airline agent if there was a problem.

"She made a funny face and said, 'Oh, he's on a no-fly list,'" Krista Martin said. "They looked at him and immediately realized he was only 7."

The young boy, who stands 3 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 55 pounds, was then issued a boarding pass, she said. In the past, she said she also has had trouble booking on at least one other airline.

The TSA says the AirTran incident shouldn't have happened because airlines are responsible for "automatically" removing children from no-fly lists. Indeed, on its Web site, tsa.gov, the agency proclaims that placing children on such lists is a "myth."

"The airline has the ability to and should immediately de-select any child allegedly on a watch list," White, the TSA spokesman, said.

Judy Graham-Weaver, AirTran spokeswoman, said the only way an airline can clear a child is by seeing the child first. She further contended that only the TSA can remove or add names.

"If we were to clear the reservation prior to seeing the child, we would have no way to prove we were clearing a child and not an actual no-fly passenger," she said.

There is an Irish terrorist named Michael Martin who was convicted in 1995 of taking part in an Arizona smuggling ring that attempted to ship bomb detonators to the Irish Republican Army, according to the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, a nonprofit organization based in Oklahoma City. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Whether he is the same Michael Martin on the no-fly list, federal officials won't say.

In any case, the TSA has a Traveler Redress Inquiry Program, accessible via its Web site, allowing a passenger whose name is on a no-fly list to fill out a form. After the agency confirms that person is not a security threat, he or she receives a "cleared letter," permitting them to travel without further question, White said.

Krista Martin, who works for a bank, said she initially declined to use the redress program because it appeared to be aimed specifically for adults. On Monday, she said she now plans to fill out the forms on behalf of her son.

Just the same, she still fears the no-fly list problem will crop up again.

"Apparently, this will happen with every new airline I fly on," she said. "Maybe TSA has to provide more information to the airlines."

The no-fly list is maintained by the U.S. Terrorist Screening Center in Washington, D.C., an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The list was created in December 2003 as a means to consolidate all watch lists and allow law enforcement agencies to quickly determine if a person is a suspected terrorist, said center spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich.

Ken Kaye can be reached at [email protected] or 954-385-7911.