by Simon 8 Replies latest jw friends
In an article in the Guardian:
Airlines warn of huge delays over Blunkett security plan
it says:
The government wants airlines to provide the name, gender and home address of each passenger, together with the number of pieces of luggage they are carrying, before each plane can take off.
Jeepers ... you mean they don't do that already?!?!
Pretty soon they're going to start asking for ID before you get on the plane. Jesus.
I would be interested to hear about Europe, but in America airport security is a joke. The security at airports is being conducted by the lowest rung of our workforce. Were talking about fast food level employees here. Couple this with the fact that any kind of intelligence is considered profiling and not legal. So in some cases 80 year old ladies are being strip searched and 20 to 40 year old males are being waved through. I think the terrorist just dont have any trained pilots left or they would repeat 9-11.
Jelly (Ill be driven class)
Here's a silly thing, my MIL and her 80 yr old friend flew EZjet Luton to Aberdabberdeen t'other day and they had to have photo IDs signed by doctors in order to board. 20 odd years ago I flew to N Ireland and had to fill out a form stating I wasn't a terrorist.How does signing bits of paper make any difference? If anyone was up to no good they'd either have fake ID or wouldn't care who knew anyway after the event.The only way it could help is if every check in desk had a list/photo of every possible suspect person on the planet and they could check each one.Might as well walk! More important would be Xrays and searches.Can't do that on trains though and I'm travelling with the kids next week...I'm not saying don't do anything, but logic and common sense should play a bigger part!
Hi Simon,
I think the goverment are using security as just another excuse to keep check on spending for tax purposes. Under the proposed rules, anyone buying a ticket with cash will now be monitered. Already anyone who spends more than 500 on a ticket is asked for ID and reported to the authorities.
Big Brother is watching. I have heard that before in the Kingdom hall!
trevor
True, true, true, it's all true. And inexcuseable.
In America it goes like this. Keep in mind that over the last twenty years EVERY airplane hijacked has been hijacked by an Arab male(s).
Do you think we can profile Arab males in our air terminals over here? Hell no. The libs over here begin foaming at the mouth at any suggestion that we profile the very people who are most likely to hijack an airliner. So instead, we strip search granny, the pilot, a three year-old.
Liberals are not to be believed. There's just no excuse for this abnegation of common sense.
As the head of security for El Al said in an interview over here a couple of weeks ago, "You don't have a security system, you have a system for bothering people. You're not looking for terrorists, you're looking for weapons and there's a big difference." No shit.
What I want to know is how the Libs are in a position to force such nonsense on us. Who the hell is letting this nonsense become our policy?
And NO armed pilots. That's choice. So if a terrorist gets into the cockpit and neither the crew nor the passengers are able to subdue him and he gets control of the airplane, the ONLY option left is for the airliner to be shot out of the sky by one of our own F-16s. No thanks.
The week of 9/11, I had a ticket from Savannah, GA, USA to Miami, FL, USA the following Friday to attend my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. I cancelled my flight and instead took the grinding seven hour drive there and back with my broken pelvis and crushed L4 vertebra. Damn.
How in hell do we get Libs out of any kind of position of influence so we can return to plain old common sense? I really would like to know.
Francois
Edited by - Francois on 6 July 2002 9:24:2
Simon,
When HL and I visited Italy in April, we flew via Milan. At London Heathrow we were thoroughly checked out, passports inspected several times too. At Milan we changed planes for Naples. The flight to Naples was fine, except that the crew flew the whole trip with the flightdeck door open. Also, the toilets were by the cockpit, and several passengers stuck their heads through the door to chat to the pilots.
Good old Alitalia!
Englishman.
My Girlfriend just got back from Milano via Alitalia a few weeks ago, and has pictures of one of the young armed 'guards' showing her friend his assault rifle literally a metre from the gate, where you can see Alitalia personnel smiling for the camera in the background! I'll post it when I get the chance.
The problem with Security in the USA is the system the US government has set up. Everyone seems to forget that the 9/11 hijackers did nothing illegal before they got on the plane. Box cutters were allowed at the time. I work for a major airline in the USA and work closely with the FAA as a liason on security issues. The agents whow work for the FAA are just as frustrated about the whole thing as passengers.
Only until the political climate changes and we stop feeling sorry if we hurt anyone's feelings will the situation change. Hate to say it but right now grandma is not a threat to our airplanes, nor the passengers 5 year old son who the computer selects on a random basis. We need racial profiling, and right now Arab males fit the profile of your terrorist. I am the least prejiduce person I know but this is the hard reality at this time. Until people in government take off their politically correct glasses will the problem continue. Everything that is being done right now is for show, to let the public know that the government is doing something. I know, I see it everyday.
