JetBlue Removes Passenger Who Filmed Video Mid-Air: Is Photography During Flights Legal?

A Twitter user uploaded a video Friday, which showed a passenger being escorted out of a JetBlue flight for allegedly filming a video while the plane was in the air.

The man, who was reportedly Jewish, was escorted out of the JetBlue Flight 228 after it arrived at the Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey, from Orlando, Florida.

The video uploader, with the Twitter handle "@ChaimGlick," told the International Business Times after the flight landed, an announcement was made for passengers to refrain from disembarking the plane. They were informed security will soon arrive to escort someone out of the plane for questioning.

“Security boarded and removed him then everybody was allowed to disembark the plane,” the Twitter user said. The identity of the person removed is not immediately known.

So, is taking pictures or filming videos while inside the plane illegal? The law on using cameras on flights is not a universal one, as every airline has their own policy on the matter.

When it comes to JetBlue in particular, the airline maintained it does not make its photography policy public due to security reasons.

Morgan Johnston, an airline spokesman, told the Huffington Post in 2015: “Our crew members use their professional judgment in evaluating the appropriate use of photography or videography onboard, especially when it involves the privacy of other customers and the safe and secure operations of the airline.”

The statement came after pharmacist Steven Leslie flying from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to New York City was removed from the plane for filming the crew’s reaction to a cancer patient boarding the flight.

Leslie decided to film their concerned look because only days ago, another cancer patient was expelled from an Alaska Airlines flight under similar circumstances.

“It was my original intent to record this uncomfortable situation because I felt it was wrong,” he said.

After one of the crew members, whom Leslie was filming, told him to delete the video and he refused, he was escorted out of the plane.

The airline, however, reviewed the case later on and apologized to Leslie. They also offered him a flight credit and covered some of his expenses associated with spending an extra night in Albuquerque, as he was rebooked into another flight nine hours later.

In April 2017, another JetBlue passenger, Michael Nissensohn, was removed from the flight after crew alerted the airport security a man onboard the flight was filming a selfie video at a security-sensitive time, while the cockpit door was opened.

"I told them there is no rule against talking a selfie on a plane," Nissensohn rebutted at the time, US News reported. Regardless, he was ordered off the plane and held up at LaGuardia airport in New York for more than an hour. At the end, he was allowed to go without any charges.

Since the latest incident happened while the plane was grounded, it was difficult to determine whether Twitter user @ChaimGlick’s shooting of the video was against JetBlue’s policy.