JetBlue’s seat back entertainment map now displays the Palestinian territory, and it does so in “significantly larger text” than Israel “to the point where it is overlaid on the entire state of Israel.”
While the airline has stopped allowing flight attendants to wear personal, unapproved pins like Palestinian flag pins after the airline had a passenger removed by police for questioning one such pin, their moving map appears to have struck a middleground between recognizing Palestine (which the U.S. does not) and recognizing only Palestine (‘from the river to the sea’).
In fact, “according to the map, Israel’s northern border does not include the Golan Heights” or “a division of the West Bank” instead appearing to call much of what is internationally acknowledged to be Israel ‘Palestine’.
While it’s unclear when the change was made, JetBlue acknowledges it, telling me,
The map app on seatback screens allows customers to see where their aircraft is flying at any given time. The digital maps are licensed from a third-party provider to JetBlue and other airlines around the world. We have reached out to the service provider to understand how their maps are sourced.
While blaming a third party provider, they don’t express concern over that provider’s choices in their statement. Nor did they commit to addressing it.
I’ve written in the past about an airline announcing their destination as ‘Palestine’ and removing Israel from their inflight map. Swiss even had a policy of turning off its inflight map 30 minutes prior to arrival in order to avoid displaying Israel to passengers flying to Israel.
JetBlue is headquartered in New York, home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. On the other hand this is an increasingly large customer base…
Pro-Hamas fans in New York chanting that Palestinians can resist “by any means necessary” on the day an American hostage was buried. Hersh was shot in the head and they think it’s “necessary”. What a twisted, sick, foul movement. pic.twitter.com/BbC4U57opY
— Heidi Bachram ️ (@HeidiBachram) September 3, 2024
…and on the other side of the Atlantic at JetBlue destinations like Amsterdam as well.
Update: 9/5/24 JetBlue adds an additional statement:
The map app on seatback screens is an interactive map that allows customers to see where their aircraft is flying at any given time.
The map app is provided to us by a third-party company, which they license from a specialty technology company. (https://www.geofusion.com)
A number of other airlines around the world use the same map technology on their seatback screens.
We don’t believe the provider has made updates or changes to the map recently. The concern reported about the font size seems to be related to when a user zooms into the map on an area that is small in size. When zooming into smaller countries and cities, the font labels increase disproportionately to the land. This is how the technology works on all areas of the globe and it does not appear to be an intentional choice or statement about Israel.
The map app is primarily meant to see where your aircraft is flying, and JetBlue does not fly to Isael or the Middle East. To that end, we have not previously reviewed the map app’s functionality in that region. We’ve reached out to our service provider to get more information about the map’s functionality and accuracy.
JetBlue-why fly a 3rd class freighter.
This site has turned into a gigantic joke…half my comments are tagged as already posted when I have never posted what has been banned. Enough already
Interesting, some years ago on Qatar Airways I noticed that while the land and cities were shown, neither borders nor the name “Israel” appeared. Maps can be powerful things and the Palestine issue is not the first time. For example, in East Germany city maps showed West Berlin as just a blank white spot and in the 1970s a Central American one ignored the existence of then-British Honduras (claimed by Guatemala) as well as the Canal Zone. And the PRC certainly doesn’t show Taiwan as a separate country. Boundaries can also be differently drawn if the printer is in a country that claims some of its neighbor’s territory. Throughout the Cold War U.S. maps of Europe often carried a footnote that the Baltic States weren’t recognized parts of the USSR.
jetBlue always wanting to be different.
This time blaming someone else………
Given that Jet Blue is a NY centric company with a big focus on Florida destinations, I have no doubt they have a very large Jewish clientele. This failing airline can ill afford to lose this key demographic. Could be the beginning of the end for Jet Blue.
teamOslo1967borders
Bye JetBlue.
There has never in the history of the world existed a country called Palestine. It doesn’t exist, nor has it ever.
Besides, if you’re going to force Israel to give back lands won in war (after being attacked multiple times by their neighbors btw), shall we also give back land to Germany?
All borders have been created by war. Because some countries deny the reality of historical events doesn’t mean that it’s not a real border. If you don’t want to live iunder Israeli rule, then leave Israel. Choose basically any country surrounding it.
So JetBlue is the fficial airline that supports muderous raping terrorists who use Palestinians as human shields. Got it.
They can burn in hell…..
You know JetBlue has many jewish employees…why are you trying to hurt JetBlue so bad. What is your problem?
@Jorge..do you think the managers at JetBlue login and change the inflight map? Come on! Gary is just a Jetblue hater. This is the worst press you can find anywhere. Jetblue is code share partners with El Al AND banned Palestine pins.
Everyone on this forum has to take this “think” they call Gary with a grain of salt.
When I lived in Dubai from 2006-14, Israel on the Emirates inflight map was labeled as “Occupied Palestine”.
The idea of JetBlue engaging in cartographic aggression in this situation is akin to thinking the sun hates the earth because the sun sets and night befalls where you are.
People seeking to feel offended in order to disappear “the offensive” label from used maps is what this is about. Under international law, a fair amount of the land subject to control, domination and/or destruction by the Israeli government are Palestinian Territories. Putting the Palestinian Territories label on maps is more or less as appropriate as putting the Israel label on the maps.
@GUWonder – no it is ISRAEL not “Palestinian territories”. Israel won those lands in wars. As others noted wars determine almost all boundries as countries have fought over land since the dawn of time. If you don’t recognize those lands as part of Israel I guess you feel Texas and much of the American southwest is part of Mexico (and I won’t even go there on the vast number of illegals which make it seem like Mexico at times) and numerous other examples of countries expanding their territory through wars. Life is violent whether some of you believe it or not. Pacifists never got anywhere except executed. If you don’t fight for something you will be conquered – it is that simple.
@Mantis … +1 . Bye JetBlue . We don’t have time for willful ignorance . Cheers to Netanyahu for having guts , class , and an understanding of the entire history of the people .
@drrichard … A nudge in your direction to check out Brett Stevens’ article in todays ( 9-4-24 ) New York Times .
There is Israel and there is the Palestinian Territories. I get it that AC and some others don’t like it, but that is what it is. They co-exist on maps too.
The truth of the matter is muddled but it is that Palestine is a country controlled partly by Israel. It is incomplete control. Israel and some major countries do not recognize Palestine. Israel denies the right of Palestine to exist and claimed everything. The current Hamas government denies the right of Israel to exist and claims everything. Hamas doesn’t control the West Bank.
Sounds like AC is a fan of Hamas’s way of trying to grab territory free from Israeli control. What a shame to think might makes right. Does AC feel the same way about men raping women, men and children? Disturbingly barbarian to think that rules should go out the door for those with the power to “successfully” use violence to get what they want however they want.
I would be comfortable with the fact that individuals and organizations can have “free expression” in their private capacity. However it is the job of the elected government to decide foreign policy. Any American entity licensed to provide public service must adhere to that. Running an airline is not a fundamental right. It is a licensed privilege. Jet Blue must either get in line or lose its licence.
About time someone stopped living in a fantasy of white supremacist racist state created by stealing land and murdering locals using minority taxpayer money in the US to fund Zionists living it up in villas while many blacks, native Americans, Hawaiians and whites in America can’t get healthcare or education.
Enough theft and murder from Zionists who are behind every war and evil in the last 70 years.
Kudos to AKTCHI… when I fly somewhere I do not want, repeat DO NOT WANT, and I am not interested in anybody’s opinions, maps, free speech, religious belief, etc. They are at work and getting paid by a company to perform a job. There is a place in life to express their ideas and wishes. I do not push mine on people trapped on a plane with seatbelts on… don’t do it to me, it may elicit a very negative response and believe me… nobody will change his or her opinion if you wear a pin or fight for a map.
B6 flys nowhere near Israel or the Palestinian areas. Who’s getting their panties in a wad over a 3rd party vendor? I’m sure B6 had no idea.
Qatar does the same thing. You’d think an American airline would have more integrity…
Nmb64me. Bigots!
I don’t blame JetBlue. They are an airline, not a cartographer.
The map will be fixed, I’m sure.
Until then, Gary needs to grow up and act like an adult and a journalist.
For an elevated and premium travel experience in the sky, please consider Delta.
Given that right wing racist facist government currently in place plans to slowly annex the West Bank by kicking elderly indigenous Palestinian families from their homes using terrorist settlers. It tragically could be the final days for the Palestinian Territories.
When you say “…much of what is internationally acknowledged to be Israel …”, do you refer to the US-recognize or do you refer to what ‘much of the world recognise’, I.e. UN, recognize?
Interesting update on JetBlue’s seat back map! It’s important to be aware of how such designations are represented. Thanks for highlighting this.
Changing the borders of Israel and calling it Palestine, especially at a time when Israel is at war with barbaric terrorists, is disgusting. I will no longer fly Jet Blue. Jews are from Judea and Arabs are from Arabia. Jews are not occupying Arab land; Arabs are occupying Jewish land. Jews are the indigenous people of the land.
Lol I have to remind myself to stop checking this site due to all the clickbait
It took me a while to stop checking cnn.com (it’s like opening the fridge and staring when you’re not hungry and then just consume junk).
Ya couldn’t at least get a photo of this?
Lol
Actually thanks this will indeed be the final article I’ll read bc you finally made me realize surely there is a way I can have my phone stop me from absentmindedly visiting websites that feature only click bait and I figured it out
I would say see you later but that phrase will not apply here
We need an airline map that follows the slogan 54 40 or fight.
WTF is this!!
I just find it funny that the airline with hubs in places with lots of jewish people (FLL and JFK particularly) is doing this.
It’s giving me a good laugh
Pandering to the lefty loonies and the Muslim world who, for some odd reason, seem to be on the same side. Many of you here are Jewish and say that this could be a negative for B6, considering the Jewish customer constituency that it serves. Perhaps.
Then again, one of our political parties is very much more critical toward Israel and sympathetic to the “Palestinians” (no such thing really, they’re basically Arabs) than the other one. And that more anti-Israel party will get the majority of the votes from that same constituency you’re referring to here. So, clearly they’re not bothered much by things like fake Palestine getting top billing over real Israel on a map..
Gary – if Apple or Google changed your maps on your phone to indicate the same, would that make you anti-semetic? Of course not.
Then why is JetBlue held accountable for something a third-party does?
Also – Delta’s maps say EXACTLY the same thing. Where’s the outrage on that?
This is the dumbest article Gary has ever written and that’s saying a lot. Israel is geographically the size of New Jersey and Palestine is probably half of that. So when you label “Israel” and “Palestinian Territories” in the same font size….obviously they’ll overlap on the map. Anyone with a half of brain and actually looked at the map would see this.
Reasonable people will disagree, and on issues which more opinion and less fact-based, there is no “right” answer. That said, a shout out to @LDPRES, @ViewFromMyLaptop & @James: Why do you berate Gary for the huge effort on his part to deliver a Blog (which is FREE to you) focused on all-things Travel ? Are you morally superior to Gary in selecting which travel-related news to share ? Please feel free to stop reading and commenting in Gary’s Blog, or even start your own if you are wiser than he.
Not JetBlue’s fault. Those maps are controlled by a third-party vendor. Plenty of Jewish people, including Israelis, work at JetBlue.
After reading the various comments, if Palestinian Territories are to be included, so should Native American reservations be included in maps within the borders of the states in which they are located.
“An American Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose government is autonomous, subject to regulations passed by the United States Congress and administered by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, and not to the U.S. state government in which it is located.”
I think the problem is the author is implying that this was intentional on the airlines’ part. It’s clearly something that is handled by a 3rd party.
Heck – look at most of the comments condemning the airline over something like this. It’s shocking that a lot of the readers aren’t critical thinkers. Tim Dunn is looking pretty smart, frankly.
The Golan and the West Bank are Palestian territories, though they have been partial annexed by Israel, with the tacit blessing and funding of the United States.
Anyway, the map. The letters are big, maybe that will be corrected and Palestinian Territories will be printed in tiny tiny letters, but that doesn’t seem to be the issue.
what a cop out by Jet Blue. Blame it on some “third party vendor.” They are paying for the service; they should control content.
Thanks – will not be flying JetBlue until this is corrected and will cancel my credit card. Not that they will miss my biz.
The State of Palestine is recognized by 146 of 193 member states of the United Nations.
Palestine exists, and has a right to self determination.
Israel also exists and has a right to self determination.
But MOST importantly, it’s software that JetBlue does not write. It’s 3rd party map software.
Not EVERYTHING you disagree with is antisemitic Gary. We already know you’re a right wing zionist, we get it, you don’t have to remind us every 5 seconds.
@Boraxo. Gary is defaming JetBlue. B6 management had nothing to do with this. It had to do with the zoom functionality of the map. JetBlue doesn’t even fly within 3000 miles of Israel and in communications they referred to Israel as Israel. It looks lien Palestine is on the map with Israel as I’ve seen on other maps too. If you zoom In it may be possible to get Palestine to show up larger than Israel.
@TexasTJ. Gary isn’t all things travel. All this article did was make people dislike JetBlue (which makes this psychopath happy ) and create a false narrative.
I think you are losing your touch with the Palestinian hating clickbait posts, only 42 comments on this one. For your information, the internationally recognized borders of Israel do not include the Golan Heights, that region is part of Syria. it is just occupied by the Israelis after it was stolen by force
Wow I can’t believe all the leftist comments above. Sick. I won’t get into the politics but you people should be ashamed of yourselves. Gary, keep up the good work.