DENVER — An Aurora family had quite the trip to Texas Tuesday, after concerns from a Frontier Airlines passenger prompted an unpleasant experience with law enforcement.
Lakeyjanay Bailey, a 21-year-old Black woman, was traveling from Denver to Dallas with her 4-year-old adoptive sister, Olivia, who is white.
When the pair landed at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, authorities were waiting for them inside the gate.
"There were two police officers, and they came up to me and said, 'Is it okay if we talk to you?'" Bailey said.
One officer asked Olivia, "if she knows me and what am I to her, and he asked what my mom was to her." A series of other questions would follow.
According to a DFW Department of Public Safety incident report, the officers responded to a request from Frontier Airlines for law enforcement to meet them at the gate.
According to Bailey, officers spoke with her mom and a social worker to confirm certain pieces of information. Then, they followed the pair to baggage claim before speaking with the person who picked them up.
"The whole time they were talking with us, people kept staring at us, whispering and stuff," Bailey said.
The incident report said Frontier Airlines requested police to investigate the matter after a passenger on the plane was concerned about a possible human trafficking incident involving a female born in 2001 who was traveling with a female born in 2017.
For Bailey, the underlying factor is obvious.
"If the roles were changed and it was a white person walking off the plane with a Black person, like a Black child, I feel like things would be different," Bailey said.
Frontier Airlines provided a statement to Denver7 about the matter, confirming a passenger had concerns about human trafficking regarding the pair.
A concern was raised during the flight by another passenger who was sitting near the woman and child and suspected human trafficking. That passenger approached the flight crew with those concerns and subsequently completed a written report during the flight to document her observations. The captain was notified and felt an obligation to report the matter. Air travel is one of the most common means for human trafficking. Race played no part in the actions of the flight crew who were following established protocols
Denver7 asked Frontier for a copy of that report and which established protocols flight crew were following but have yet to receive a response.
In the meantime, Bailey and her family are considering filing a lawsuit against Frontier Airlines.
