Terrorists and Airline Question

[InWhyCee]

They said that if a ticket passenger does not get on the plane, they have to postpone the flight to find their luggage in remove it from the plane. IE to keep someone from checking luggage with a bomb.

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Who knows what the protocol is in America, but this happened on a flight out of Amsterdam (connecting through Tel Aviv) I was on recently… everyone was deboarded immediately, everyone was INTERVIEWED by Dutch officers (mine was in a suit, I doubt he was airport security), everyone passed through a second metal detector. They were not going to let me on because I only had ONE piece of photo ID–my U.S. passport.

Was my flight late? Yes. Was defending my identity annoying? Extremely. Did I appreciate the feeling of security this gave me? YES, YES, YES!

PS: I doubt those seats were “bought up”; early morning flights to the West Coast generally aren’t as busy as others… sadly, those flights were picked because they were full of jet fuel, and were known to have good “on time” records.

“People… they’re so
complicated. I suppose
that’s why I prefer
horses.”

[Jennasis]

InWhyCee, it could have happened. Shudder…

[InWhyCee]

In my experience flying out of JFK, La Guardia, and Newark, early morning flights are usually NOT crowded, and far more likely to be on time than those in the afternoon or evening–one reason why the terrorists were able to synchronize the attacks.

As for them buying one-way tickets… I haven’t heard that yet, and if it is true I am appalled. Considering how I (and several friends) have been treated by the airlines in the past–for having too much luggage, checking in too late, or just looking ‘suspicious’-- I can’t imagine a small group of men buying last-minute one-way tickets wouldn’t trigger an small alarm in someone’s head.
It retrospect, none (or at least some) of this should have ever happened.

Really, really tragic.

[wtywmn4]

Having flown many of those early am flights, unless you are close to a weekend or holiday, they really are pretty empty. Most people fly on mondays if they need to be on one of the coasts. Plus school had started, and the summer tourist season had slowed down… You have plenty of room also…Always wondered how they could fly to the opposite coast with so few people on board…

[Midge]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jennasis:

My guess, is that those terrorists are jealous of our freedoms. Jealous that we can say and do what we wish, without reprisal. Jealous that we can earn a decent wage. jealous that we have sanitary and prosperous living conditions. Jealous that we aren’t some small third-world toilet, living in fear like slaves from some crazed, religious zealots who hide in shadows and rattle our cages about Allah condems those who don’t follow him.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They want the US out of Saudi Arabia in general and Mecca in particular. They want to replace the current Saudi govt. with a fundamentalist govt. (Can you say, Taliban?) They want the US to stop supporting Israel so they can wipe Israel off the map. They do not believe in a secular govt. and USA has the most visible secular govt in the world.

[Bumpkin]

Do you think that the reason the flights were all so empty is because the terrorists themselves had booked most of the seats to ensure that they had less people to deal with?
Whenever I have flown East to West or West to East they are begging for someone to give up their seat. In other words the flights are packed.

[Cactuskate]

My husband just “went to work” yesterday. He is a commercial pilot and his trip starts in Denver. So he had to “jumpseat” to Denver. For those unaware, his company does not buy him a ticket to get to his trip, so he goes on a space available, reciprocity agreement with the airlines, at no charge.

There was some talk of the airlines only allowing their own uniformed employees to jump seat. That could have made our life interesting, as he flys heavy freight for Emery Worldwide and would have literally been out of a “ride to work.”

I am wandering here. My point, oh yeah, that he got to Denver very easily, that the flights certainly were not overbooked. But he did comment how much easier it was to manuever through the airport since they have only allowed ticketed passengers past security screening. That part pleased him. No more Aunt Edith with the knitting needles to contend with at the screening area.

He did ask me to make him a little black ribbon band to put on his company ID badge. I assume for recognition of the crews lost. I then made him a little pin of the pointy ends of a red, white and even had a blue ribbon from some local horse shows. I asked him to wear it and that no one else would know there was part of a horse head on the under side. He just rolled his eyes like he always does.

How do you live with this you might ask? If I worried every single time he went to work I would be a wreck. I take solace in the fact that he is the person YOU would want in the cockpit of YOUR flight. He is meticulous and brilliant. He would never take a risk knowingly, and this is his passion. To fly airplanes. Big airplanes (727).

So I kiss him goodbye, and we always have talked every evening when he is out, so we do keep in touch. And I look forward to him coming home at the end of the week.

I guess his passion is more risky than my passion of climbing on big horses, but it is our life, it is all we have ever known and we pray we are looked out for by God.

And at this point I want to again thank everyone on this board for being such good virtual friends and listening to all we have been saying the last few days. When the time is right we will get back to our horsey threads. Actually pleased to have entered a few classes in the virtual horse show.

Hugs to all, Kate

“The older I get, the better I used to be, but who the heck cares!”

[Linny]

I thought the same thing. I assumed that these flights might have had stopovers in Chicago or some other major area, where they would pick up more people. Does anyone know if they were scheduled non stop flights?

[Calypso]

They just discussed this on the news. There was some question as to did the terrorists book more seats so that there would be less people on the flight to overtake. The authorities now feel that the terrorists just studied the flights and these particular ones were usually not filled to compacity.

[Serenade]

This is just a guess, but I think that the flights were empty because people were scared to fly and/or travel. Even though security is so tight today, emotions don’t always follow reason in circumstances such as these.

Probably lots of people postphoned travel planes, or made other travel arangements. I know around here that the flight to Minneapolis was empty, and the people at the airlines said that they thought it was because everyone decided to drive.

Just a thought.

Peace,
Kate

[InWhyCee]

he did comment how much easier it was to manuever through the airport since they have only allowed ticketed passengers past security screening.

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I recall that same rule bring in effect several years ago in response to another, more distant international incident. Shame that the airlines seemed to toss out those rules once it appeared that things were “back to normal.”

Personally, I have VERY little sympathy for the airlines and the airports right now. If they had invested an appropriate amount in security, they might not be losing billions now. I won’t be too offended if the FAA and the military take control of air security, seeing as how the industry doesn’t appear to have learned enough from past mistakes.

[MO1]

Great topic!! I too believe that the morning flights are less crowded especially this time of year. September 11, (a day that will live in Infamy), school has started + down time for vacationers = much less travel time.
I don’t have anything further to add, except that I do enjoy reading all the posts!

[Canter]

My guess, is that those terrorists are jealous of our freedoms. Jealous that we can say and do what
we wish, without reprisal. Jealous that we can earn a decent wage. jealous that we have sanitary and
prosperous living conditions. Jealous that we aren’t some small third-world toilet, living in fear like slaves from some crazed, religious zealots who hide in shadows and rattle our cages about Allah condems those who don’t follow him.

Just substitute the word “resentful” for “jealous” and you start to get the picture.