A middle school student from Keene, New Hampshire, on his way to Florida for a baseball tournament found himself on the FBI's watch list.
"It was a bit surprising and kind of scary at the same time," said Peter Haas, 14.
Hass had to undergo additional screening after his boarding pass was flagged at the security checkpoint at Boston's Logan Airport when he tried to fly to Florida on February 16.
"They explained the pat down they were going to do, front and back," said Haas.
He said the TSA agents were nice and explained each step in the screening process before conducting it.
"We ended up with four or five TSA agents, who were doing the screening process with us," said Hass' mother Pam Jaquith.
She said they also found themselves in the company of a TSA supervisor.
"The supervisor explained to me anyone over the age of 12, they must do the screening if they are on the list, is what he said," said Jaquith.
She asked how her son ended up on the list but didn't get much of an answer.
"He was very clear with me that the people they pull aside are usually Muslim," said Jaquith.
NBC Boston contacted the TSA about this case. A statement released said in part:
"TSA uses the Secure Flight system to vet all airline passenger names against the watch lists. Please keep in mind that TSA uses a variety of screening processes, including random selection for additional screening."
Jaquith said the TSA supervisor was very clear Haas' screening was not random and that she needed to contact Homeland Security.
"It's only happened to me once," said Haas. "It'll probably never happen again, hopefully."
That's no guarantee, which is why his family is now working with New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan's office to contact Homeland Security to remove Haas from any list he may be on.
