NEW YORK _ The daughter of President-elect Donald Trump and her family were reportedly "accosted" by "an out-of-control passenger" aboard a JetBlue flight as it prepared to depart Kennedy Airport for Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday morning.
A story on the TMZ celebrity entertainment website said a passenger screamed at Ivanka Trump, "Your father is ruining the country," as the flight prepared for departure _ and said the "unruly passenger" was escorted from the flight by JetBlue personnel. A photo posted with the online story shows Ivanka Trump, seated in coach on the JetBlue flight, looking on as personnel deal with the situation. The passenger is not visible.
Asked about an incident involving Trump on one of its planes, JetBlue spokeswoman Tamara Young issued a statement saying: "The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. If the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs the risk of escalation during flight. In this instance, our team worked to reaccommodate the party on the next available flight."
The Port Authority, whose police are responsible for law enforcement at metro-area airports, also issued a statement, saying that Port Authority police made no arrests.
An airport official who asked not to be identified acknowledged Trump was aboard the flight.
In its website report, TMZ said: "The guy went on, 'Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private" _ and said the man "had his kid in his arms as he went on the tirade."
TMZ reported that Trump, who was flying with her daughter, Arabella, and sons, Joseph and Theodore, "ignored the guy" and said she attempted to distract her children, the oldest of whom is 5, "with crayons."
The TMZ story said the unruly passenger, who has not been publicly identified, screamed as he was removed from the flight: "You're kicking me off for expressing my opinion?!!"
A man who identified himself as Matthew Lasner tweeted about the incident, but later took the tweets down.
Lasner claimed in the since-removed tweets that Trump and her family were on his flight out of Terminal 5 at Kennedy Airport.
Lasner said his husband "expressed displeasure in a calm tone" but then JetBlue staff overheard and kicked the pair off the plane, according to the tweet. In an earlier tweet, however, Lasner said his husband chased them down "to harass them."
Trump transition team representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
