Oxman
Well-Known Member
This might get ugly.....
A Delta frequent flyer who has traveled more than two million miles on Delta jets in the past 30 years claims one of his flight attendants accused him of trafficking his daughter with special needs and then called the police to find him during a recent Arrested on a flight between Minneapolis (MSP) to Dallas (DFW) when the couple was visiting family on Father’s Day.
Peter Espinosa wrote an open letter to Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian, which he posted on LinkedIn, accusing the Atlanta-based airline of racially profiling its customers and disregarding the needs of passengers with special needs following the disturbing incident.
Espinosa traveled first class with his 20-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome. The most common hereditary cause of autism and intellectual disability worldwide, according to the Fragile X Research Foundation, can cause extreme anxiety and the inability to make eye contact.
Affected people are also easily overwhelmed, especially when questioned, and can come to tears if they are pushed into unjustified conversations.
“During the flight, our flight attendant noticed my daughter’s fear and concentrated on interacting with her,” explains Peter Espinosa in an open letter. “He kept trying to ask her direct questions, which made my daughter Rachel even more anxious.”
“I tried to intervene but he insisted that he need a direct response from her. When my daughter burst into tears, I finally insisted and said “she cannot answer you”. His answer was, “Do you only speak Spanish?” I thought that was a strange question from him. “
“He then looked at a piece of paper in his hand and asked me if my name was Espinosa? I said yes. I’m Pete Espinosa and this is my daughter Rachel. I asked why is he so anxious to talk to my daughter? and he replied that he was just doing random customer greetings. He thanked me for being a Delta Million Mile flier and left. “
Upon landing in Houston, Espinosa says four police officers boarded the plane and escorted him off the plane, accusing him of trafficking in human beings.
“Try to imagine what my FXS-affected daughter would look like when she was taken away by the police and taken from her father. I was taken to a nearby area for interrogation. I now understand what it is like to be a falsely accused minority parent who fights for my freedom, fights for my child, ”wrote Espinosa.
The police dispatched to investigate the allegation quickly released Espinosa after it became clear that it was not human trafficking. An official allegedly told Peter that flight attendants were trained to detect human trafficking, but “this group of flight attendants was not properly trained”.
Peter says that he and his wife were still trying to comfort their daughter more than two days after the incident. He fears that Delta flight attendants have racially profiled him because of his Hispanic origins.
“I am pretty clear that this would not have happened if your flight attendant had not viewed me as Hispanic, along with the preconceived negative attitudes that go with it,” Espinosa says in the letter.
“There is nothing more important than keeping our customers safe, and that includes creating a safe and comfortable environment for all customers – especially those with disabilities,” said the spokesman. “While Delta employees remain committed to the fight against human trafficking, we continue to work to make our customers with disabilities feel supported.”
“We contact the customer directly to better understand the difficult situation that he described in the context of our investigation,” the statement continues.
A 2017 report by the Trafficking Resource Center identified over 8,700 possible human trafficking cases in the United States alone – although the actual number could be much higher.
Delta has trained employees to identify potential crimes of human trafficking since 2013, and has trained more than 80,000 Delta employees worldwide. The airline has donated millions of dollars to anti-human trafficking charities and continues to speak out against the scourge of human trafficking.
In February 2017, Alaska Airlines flight attendant Shelia Fedrick helped rescue a human trafficking victim on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco. Fedrick became suspicious of an older, well-dressed man traveling with a young teenage girl who “looked like she had been through hell”.
Sheila left a note in the bathroom for the victim – when the young girl wrote a response asking for help, Fedrick was able to contact law enforcement in San Francisco, who were waiting to arrest the perpetrator when the flight landed.
A Delta frequent flyer who has traveled more than two million miles on Delta jets in the past 30 years claims one of his flight attendants accused him of trafficking his daughter with special needs and then called the police to find him during a recent Arrested on a flight between Minneapolis (MSP) to Dallas (DFW) when the couple was visiting family on Father’s Day.
Peter Espinosa wrote an open letter to Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian, which he posted on LinkedIn, accusing the Atlanta-based airline of racially profiling its customers and disregarding the needs of passengers with special needs following the disturbing incident.
Espinosa traveled first class with his 20-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome. The most common hereditary cause of autism and intellectual disability worldwide, according to the Fragile X Research Foundation, can cause extreme anxiety and the inability to make eye contact.
Affected people are also easily overwhelmed, especially when questioned, and can come to tears if they are pushed into unjustified conversations.
“During the flight, our flight attendant noticed my daughter’s fear and concentrated on interacting with her,” explains Peter Espinosa in an open letter. “He kept trying to ask her direct questions, which made my daughter Rachel even more anxious.”
“I tried to intervene but he insisted that he need a direct response from her. When my daughter burst into tears, I finally insisted and said “she cannot answer you”. His answer was, “Do you only speak Spanish?” I thought that was a strange question from him. “
“He then looked at a piece of paper in his hand and asked me if my name was Espinosa? I said yes. I’m Pete Espinosa and this is my daughter Rachel. I asked why is he so anxious to talk to my daughter? and he replied that he was just doing random customer greetings. He thanked me for being a Delta Million Mile flier and left. “
Upon landing in Houston, Espinosa says four police officers boarded the plane and escorted him off the plane, accusing him of trafficking in human beings.
“Try to imagine what my FXS-affected daughter would look like when she was taken away by the police and taken from her father. I was taken to a nearby area for interrogation. I now understand what it is like to be a falsely accused minority parent who fights for my freedom, fights for my child, ”wrote Espinosa.
The police dispatched to investigate the allegation quickly released Espinosa after it became clear that it was not human trafficking. An official allegedly told Peter that flight attendants were trained to detect human trafficking, but “this group of flight attendants was not properly trained”.
Peter says that he and his wife were still trying to comfort their daughter more than two days after the incident. He fears that Delta flight attendants have racially profiled him because of his Hispanic origins.
“I am pretty clear that this would not have happened if your flight attendant had not viewed me as Hispanic, along with the preconceived negative attitudes that go with it,” Espinosa says in the letter.
“There is nothing more important than keeping our customers safe, and that includes creating a safe and comfortable environment for all customers – especially those with disabilities,” said the spokesman. “While Delta employees remain committed to the fight against human trafficking, we continue to work to make our customers with disabilities feel supported.”
“We contact the customer directly to better understand the difficult situation that he described in the context of our investigation,” the statement continues.
A 2017 report by the Trafficking Resource Center identified over 8,700 possible human trafficking cases in the United States alone – although the actual number could be much higher.
Delta has trained employees to identify potential crimes of human trafficking since 2013, and has trained more than 80,000 Delta employees worldwide. The airline has donated millions of dollars to anti-human trafficking charities and continues to speak out against the scourge of human trafficking.
In February 2017, Alaska Airlines flight attendant Shelia Fedrick helped rescue a human trafficking victim on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco. Fedrick became suspicious of an older, well-dressed man traveling with a young teenage girl who “looked like she had been through hell”.
Sheila left a note in the bathroom for the victim – when the young girl wrote a response asking for help, Fedrick was able to contact law enforcement in San Francisco, who were waiting to arrest the perpetrator when the flight landed.
