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JetBlue offers free flights to police attending NYPD officers' funerals

JetBlue is already working to arrange free flights for the families of the officers.

By Aileen Graef
An NYPD police officer stops to look at a memorial in Downtown Brooklyn where two officers were gunned down Saturday afternoon while on duty in New York City on December 23, 2014. The two officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, were shot dead as they sat in their marked patrol car at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The suspect, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, ran into a nearby subway station where he shot himself in the head. UPI/John Angelillo
An NYPD police officer stops to look at a memorial in Downtown Brooklyn where two officers were gunned down Saturday afternoon while on duty in New York City on December 23, 2014. The two officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, were shot dead as they sat in their marked patrol car at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The suspect, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, ran into a nearby subway station where he shot himself in the head. UPI/John Angelillo | License Photo

NEW YORK, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- JetBlue is offering free flights to two officers each from the country's police forces to attend the funerals of the slain NYPD officers.

The airline, which is based in New York, said they would fly the officers from any airport along their route to New York City.

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"We're honored to do what we can to support the communities we serve, and our team has made flights available to law enforcement agencies ... who wish to send representatives to New York to support their brethren," said JetBlue spokeswoman Sharon Jones.

The funeral for Officer Rafael Ramos is scheduled for Saturday and Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens. The arrangements for Officer Wenjian Liu have yet to be made pending his family's travel arrangements. JetBlue has said they are working with partner airlines to arrange free flights for Liu's family from China.

Liu and Ramos were gunned down in an ambush by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The murders of the officers come after growing unrest following the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown who were both unarmed when they died at the hands of police.

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Police departments looking to request flights for their officers can contact the airline at [email protected].

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