Aida Alic claims she was prevented from
flying because her name sounds
like al-Qaeda
A young French woman prevented from
boarding a flight for New York this week
says she has been blacklisted by the
United States because her name, if
pronounced wrongly, sounds like al-Qaeda.
Aida Alic, 33, arrived at Geneva airport on
Wednesday with her husband and two
children to set out on a US holiday but was
told by Swiss airline that they had received
notice from US border authorities that she
was barred from entering the country.
The airline gave no further explanation and
the family had to turn around and head
back to their home near Chambery in the
French Alps, 2,700 euros out of pocket for
the lost airline tickets.
Ms Alic said that she later searched official
US travel sites to find out why she was
stopped and came to the conclusion that it
was because of her name, which on her
passport is written with her surname first,
resulting in Alic Aida.
“Alic Aida, al-Qaeda. When friends make
the play on words to wind me up, I am
used to it, but not this,” Ms Alic, who was
born in Bosnia but now has French
nationality, told Le Dauphiné Libéré
newspaper.
“Especially since my name is actually
pronounced 'Alitch’. It is of Yugoslav
origin. And now here I am labelled as a
risk.” The US embassy in Paris said it did
not comment on individual cases of people
on the US no-fly list.
Ms Alic, who had painted her finger nails
in the colours of the US flag ahead of her
planned trip, says she plans to persist in
her enquiries with US authorities to find
out why she has been banned. source: Business Insider
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