At first I would like to say hello to everyone and thank DR1 for this forum to express our views and allow for us to share our encounters in the DR. On October 23, 2004 (last night) I arrived at STI for my Jetblue flight #426, back to JFK airport in New York, after having a fabolous five days in the DR.
After passing through customs I was stopped by a young security screener who had directed me to place all metal objects in the bin, which I complied. After placing my watch in the bowl that was provided for change and smaller objects, he immediatly took a liking to my watch then took it back out of the bowl to inspect. I would like to say that I have been to the DR many times in the past year, and dealt with the constant requests for change and offers to provide various deeds for little money to get by. But in this instance, I found myself standing in front of this young screener and his comrades (some of whom were armed) as he took my watch then placed it on his wrist then gave me his walmart special (watch) for me to have.
Unfortunately for me I don't speak good spanish and was running alittle late for this flight, so I didn't say much, not knowing exactly where this whole episode was taking me. I then proceeded through the metal detector to another security guard who wanted to check my bags, so I complied. As he was checking my bags, I had noticed that the same guy was watching as well as several other officers. Fearing for my life and liberty I just stood there and said nothing. by this time this officer had retrieved my cologne from my bag and sprayed it and said that he liked this and if he could have it, I said in english (if he could understand it or not) that it wasn't mine, so i guess he somehow understood what I was saying because he placed it back in my bag, then said when you come back to my country you bring me a small one, okay. So I said okay.
Thinking that this was all over, the same security officer then asked me if I had money for him and that he can take Dominican pesos if I have. I told him no, because I just took a taxi to airport and didn't have any money. He then pressured me to give him something, so I did, the same cheap watch that his buddy gave to me earlier. He was happy, however his buddy wasn't who was watching every bit of what was taking place. I then walked off without looking back towards the boarding area. I sat down next to a Dominican woman who was waiting to board the same flight and spoke alittle english. I told her what just happened to me at the checkpoint, and without any hesitation she jumped right up out of her seat to report the incident to jetblue. I asked her not too, either out of fear of retaliation or missing this flight due to what happened. I was tired and just wanted to get back to the states where I felt it would be in my best interest. She complied with my wishes, but expressed how embarrass she was for her country.
Once in flight, I had mentioned this to another passenger, who had stated that they had tried to shake him down for money, but he claimed not to understand and kept walking. I have since reported this to one of the flight attendants who gave me a name and e-mail address of the security director of jetblue and sent jetblue an e-mail requesting them to have one of the administrators call me at once. I will post their response here once I hear back from them. In addition, I would like to hear your response as too what I did wrong, or how you would have dealt with the situation if it had happened to you. Sorry for the long post, but I felt I had to share this with someone else who travels abroad.
After passing through customs I was stopped by a young security screener who had directed me to place all metal objects in the bin, which I complied. After placing my watch in the bowl that was provided for change and smaller objects, he immediatly took a liking to my watch then took it back out of the bowl to inspect. I would like to say that I have been to the DR many times in the past year, and dealt with the constant requests for change and offers to provide various deeds for little money to get by. But in this instance, I found myself standing in front of this young screener and his comrades (some of whom were armed) as he took my watch then placed it on his wrist then gave me his walmart special (watch) for me to have.
Unfortunately for me I don't speak good spanish and was running alittle late for this flight, so I didn't say much, not knowing exactly where this whole episode was taking me. I then proceeded through the metal detector to another security guard who wanted to check my bags, so I complied. As he was checking my bags, I had noticed that the same guy was watching as well as several other officers. Fearing for my life and liberty I just stood there and said nothing. by this time this officer had retrieved my cologne from my bag and sprayed it and said that he liked this and if he could have it, I said in english (if he could understand it or not) that it wasn't mine, so i guess he somehow understood what I was saying because he placed it back in my bag, then said when you come back to my country you bring me a small one, okay. So I said okay.
Thinking that this was all over, the same security officer then asked me if I had money for him and that he can take Dominican pesos if I have. I told him no, because I just took a taxi to airport and didn't have any money. He then pressured me to give him something, so I did, the same cheap watch that his buddy gave to me earlier. He was happy, however his buddy wasn't who was watching every bit of what was taking place. I then walked off without looking back towards the boarding area. I sat down next to a Dominican woman who was waiting to board the same flight and spoke alittle english. I told her what just happened to me at the checkpoint, and without any hesitation she jumped right up out of her seat to report the incident to jetblue. I asked her not too, either out of fear of retaliation or missing this flight due to what happened. I was tired and just wanted to get back to the states where I felt it would be in my best interest. She complied with my wishes, but expressed how embarrass she was for her country.
Once in flight, I had mentioned this to another passenger, who had stated that they had tried to shake him down for money, but he claimed not to understand and kept walking. I have since reported this to one of the flight attendants who gave me a name and e-mail address of the security director of jetblue and sent jetblue an e-mail requesting them to have one of the administrators call me at once. I will post their response here once I hear back from them. In addition, I would like to hear your response as too what I did wrong, or how you would have dealt with the situation if it had happened to you. Sorry for the long post, but I felt I had to share this with someone else who travels abroad.
