Scary air travel story

Sharkbait · Jul 16, 2004

http://womenswallstreet.com/WWS/article_landing.aspx?titleid=1&articleid=711

My wife has to travel relatively often for work--4-5 times a year. Usually it's europe or south america. Articles like this scare the hell out of me.

ale: I'd really like to print that out and hand a copy of it to her manager (along with a picture of our child when it comes) and ask just how important that data problem is that it can't be handled via videoconference. :? :angry1:

graigdavis · Jul 16, 2004

wow, thats some scarry stuff...

aggiezach · Jul 16, 2004

Wow! that scares me.

terri · Jul 16, 2004

That is one helluva story. :shock:

Osmer_Toby · Jul 16, 2004

so i wonder, is anyone tracking these "musicians" now?

where are they and what are they doing now?

is what i want to know....

danalec99 · Jul 16, 2004

After being grilled by the security agents, if the musicians proved to be suspicious, they should be at Guantenamo Bay or an undisclosed location. If they are on the wrong side, those guys would be a solid asset for the security agents. And the writer's attemps on research of this issue will be futile IF they are really bad guys.

The thing that surprises me is that why would a bunch of "terrorists" attract suspicions? Pre 9/11 is a different story. But they know it is a different ball game now. Why would they seek the attention that we saw in the article?

vonnagy · Jul 16, 2004

danalec99 said:
The thing that surprises me is that why would a bunch of "terrorists" attract suspicions? Pre 9/11 is a different story. But they know it is a different ball game now. Why would they seek the attention that we saw in the article?

thats the thing that I questioned most about the article, especially if they marshalls on the plane. I don't know enough about the writer to question her veracity, but I do know the FBI has been known to be pretty darn incompetent.

I know a got everything short of the gloved hand when was the LA airport when I was emmigrating.

Remember the HUGE manhunt for Eric Rudolf? When they couldn't find him, they wrote him off as dead - then he shows up in the same place a year later where they searched.

rangefinder · Jul 16, 2004

Read the two articles. Scary stuff. But this country has become so politically correct that we are opening ourselves to all sorts of mischief.

Now if I was an Arab terrorist and I wanted to stir some trouble then this suspicious activity is a terrific ploy. Get the authorities to make a move, prove that we've done nothing then sue for a zillion dollars. The next time I get on a plane people will leave me alone for fear of being sued and I can smuggle onboard anything I want. Oops! Seems that's already been done.

Seems a lot of stalkers get off the hook the same way.

Oh my god, opps again I mean, oh my gosh, I don't want to offend the Arab population, community, groups, etc. Maybe we should just make our quota by inspecting blonde, blue eyed women.

I agree that the rights of the individual are important. But are the rights of the individual more important than the collective rights of the collective group?

A few years ago a robber held up a convience store, fired his gun three times. The terrified clerk dialed 911 after he left. The cops chased him. He crashed his car. Got out of the car, climbed on a trash bin and aimed his gun at the cops. Cop fired back, hit the robber in the face. The robber sued for $25K and won!

As long as the public argues for "rights" this type of stuff will happen. I want to see folks argue for responsibility and against stupidity.

My sympathies to this woman and to you. I've been on a lot of flights, foreign and domestic, and have experienced some strange and scary moments. They make videoconferencing more attractive every day.

mrsid99 · Jul 16, 2004

Thanks for the link Shark and I gotta agree that's a helluva scary story.
I can understand why your wife has to be travel though, you just can't get the full story any other way.
I travel myself fairly often and I've seen how the security morons operate, they obviously have a rule book and follow it to the letter and there's absolutely no intelligence in the system, why else would they shake down elderly white ladies who can just about walk except to keep their quota "fair"?
I do like Rangefinders suggestion of only inspecting blonde, blue-eyed females, hell I'd change careers and join airport security myself!
All joking aside however, there's a good reason why individual responsibility is removed and "minority rights" are elevated to ridiculous extremes, it's because there's always a politician willing to pander to whoever will vote for them.

Luminosity · Jul 16, 2004

That is indeed a scary story :shock: !
I must've been caught up in a ' lets pick on blonde , light -eyed , caucasion chicks to even things up' period :LOL:
When I was coming thru security at Atlanta airport a female security officer made me stand to the side , after going thru the metal detector. She then proceeded to frisk me and run the detector over me and whathaveyou...
it got to the stage where I thought she was about to make me strip ( obviously this wouldnt have happened in public but ... damn lol ...) ! :shock:
In the end it turned out that all the excitement was over the underwire in my bra :scratch:.
At least thats what she mumbled before lettin me move on lol.
I was SO bloody embarrassed by the whole episode. Thing is , I would rather put up with that minor inconvenience and a blushing face if it means security in airports and the like are thorough , alert and tight !

Osmer_Toby · Jul 17, 2004

Luminosity said:
That is indeed a scary story :shock: !
I must've been caught up in a ' lets pick on blonde , light -eyed , caucasion chicks to even things up' period :LOL:
When I was coming thru security at Atlanta airport a female security officer made me stand to the side , after going thru the metal detector. She then proceeded to frisk me and run the detector over me and whathaveyou...
it got to the stage where I thought she was about to make me strip ( obviously this wouldnt have happened in public but ... damn lol ...) ! :shock:
In the end it turned out that all the excitement was over the underwire in my bra :scratch:.
At least thats what she mumbled before lettin me move on lol.
I was SO bloody embarrassed by the whole episode. Thing is , I would rather put up with that minor inconvenience and a blushing face if it means security in airports and the like are thorough , alert and tight !

the image i just got in my head from this description would sell a helluva lotta copies if i could turn it into a real photo :twisted:

molested_cow · Jul 17, 2004

When I was transfering at Osaka flying to Detroit, I had my camera and laptop as carryons. They checked everything. They switched on my laptop to make sure it went to windows and since mine is old, it took a long time.

They checked my camera, detached the lens and looked through all of them.

They checked every pocket, shoes and so on.... took a full 20min before I could get onto the plane.

4 hours of thrill..... as compared to mine 13 hrs of bordom..

Anyways, I think it was a smart move that the Air marshals did not take action against the suspected people. If they did, there will definitely be chaos. They didn't, so at least nothing serious happened.

steve817 · Oct 7, 2004

I have a friend that was stranded in Pueto Rico after 9-11. When her and her husband finaly got a flight out a few days later, she told us a similar story. I will print his story out and give it to her.....wow!!