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>>>I think you're dead WRONG.
>>>What you're saying is that airplane "security" has to be set at the SCARDEST PERSON booked for the flight. That's ridiculous in the extreme!
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>>I think you're too rational about this, Jim. Esp after 9/11 and that British "Shoe-bomber" jerk, I'd've been very nervous of these guys. It's no good thinking "Oh, it'll be alright" on the ground only to realise your mistake at 30,000 ft.
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>Everyone is thoroughly checked for guns, knives and other possible "instruments" of harm to others.
>The real mistake at 30,000 ft would be to let some jerk get anywhere near the cockpit or light something up that might cause a problem.

Then how about the "water bottle" panic at British and Euro airports during August? As I understand it, certain undetectable explosives come in liquid form. Who's to say a jar of peanut butter doesn't contain explosives.

>Some guy(s) blurting out "Allah" is no more cause for concern than some Christian guy(s) praying. You gotta be real paranoid if you think that guys like that are going to be a danger to you and your fellow passengers. Or you've got to have some serious hate going on somewhere in your head.
>I'm convinced that men and women alike would take matters into their own hands if someone made any kind of move on attendants or the cockpit. Hell, if I'm ready to pitch in I'm sure everyone else is too!

Like I said, you're too rational about this. If some guys want to disperse themselves about the plane, and start mummbling arabic prayers, etc., I can imagine the feeling of unease. In the holiday plane eviction that I mentioned in the other thread, I think the "suspects" were overdressed for an summer flight from Spain, for instance.

If you're gonna pitch in... How come the 9/11 hijackers managed it with mere knives? I'd prefer ablade in the guts to plunging into a skyscraper. I don't suppose we'll ever know and heaven forfend we should ever find out personally.

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>>>You're also saying that the current 'standard' of threatening danger ("I have a gun" or "I'm gonna hijack this plane to Cuba" or things like that) are no longer in effect, replaced by some perceived "threat" by some over-sensitive person or some red-neck who dislikes some race or some other crap like that.
>>>The airline should have put the complainers off the plane.
>>>
>>>When I fly these days I pay no attention to those waiting at the gate with me. But I do pay attention once on the plane to where I am and who's around me and who looks "shifty". And I'm ready to do my bit to help subdue anyone who does anything foolish. And I wouldn't dream of accusing someone of being so shifty looking that I want them off the plane.
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>>>Imagine I saw someone praying (in the standard "Christian" way) at a gate. I could easily conclude they were praying for success of their 'mission' to crash the plane into a building. I could then demand that they be taken off the plane????
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>>Not at all. Devout christians don't particularly have a reputation for hijacking and/or blowing up/crashing aeroplanes. I'd more readily conclude that they were extremely nervous of flying and praying to The Lord for a safe journey.
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>And why not the "Allah"-blurting boys too? These weren't kids, by the way. Praying to Allah <> planning to down a plane.

The point is - THEY should have been more sensitive to others and not stir the s**t. It's like an Israeli going into Beirut, flashing his star of david and wearing a skull cap.

>I'm sorry, but air travel is seriously bad enough with all the stupid "security" now in effect. To have passenger removals at the whim of other nervous passengers is an admission that the "security" does not work. How does that make you feel? buying a row-boat?

D'accord mais j'ais peur que c'est la vie .

>If I was an airline I'd tell a passenger who was nervous about someone else to get off the flight and take some other one. Why should the nervous person rule the day and end up having someone else ejected? Even several paying passengers???? Too nervous to fly with someone, then get off the flight yourself. Simple as pie, really.

And you wouldn't be the least concerned for your own safety, and that of your crew, not to mention the multi-million dollar vehicle?

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>>>Get real.
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>>Yeah, like their confiscating nail files, sewing kits and wee scissors at check-in. Everyone's paranoid nowadays. In Bill Bryson's book "Down Under" a few years ago, he spoke of their confiscating his tiny pen-knife before the flight, then his being uissued with a far more effective and lethal steak knife for his in-flight meal.
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