JetBlue Airways has attributed a controversial in-flight map error to a third-party service provider. The map mistakenly labeled most of Israel as “Palestinian Territories,” and also excluded the Golan Heights from Israel’s borders.
Hodaya Knafo, an Israeli national traveling from Miami to San Diego, noticed the error on the map and highlighted it to fellow passengers. The mistake, which prominently displayed “Palestinian Territories,” quickly attracted attention from other flyers and JetBlue staff.
JetBlue, headquartered in New York City, has blamed the external map service provider for the issue. A representative explained, “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.” The statement continued, “The map app is primarily meant to see where your aircraft is flying, and JetBlue does not fly to Israel or the Middle East. To that end, we have not previously reviewed the map app’s functionality in that region.”
Previous Controversies
This incident is not JetBlue’s first controversy related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. In April, the airline faced backlash when a Jewish passenger was removed from a flight for objecting to a Free Palestine pin worn by a flight attendant.