British Airways Cancels Flt. 223 Heathrow to Dulles Flight for "Security" Reasons (Friday 1/02/04)

Local Radio WMAL-AM | Friday, January 2, 2004 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

British Airways has cancelled another flight from London to Washington, D.C. today for security reasons. The flight is #223.

[freedom4ever]

FLight 222, from Dulles to London, cancelled this morning. Flighht 223 comes from London to Dulles. Flight 222 is the return from Dulles to London.

[freedom4ever]

OOps, Flight 223 in the first sentence. Fat finger disease this morning.

[kristinn]

Corresponding return flight from Dulles #222 also cancelled.

Flight #217 from Heathrow to Dulles took off this morning as scheduled.

[Sabertooth]

Wow. Something's got them jumpy.

Decades from now, I'll be very interested in knowing what caused all of this.

[kristinn]

The first report I heard was that #223 was being delayed from takeoff--about two or three hours. Then the cancellation was announced.

[mewzilla]

I just saw this on FNC. Was this cancelled because its the outbound of last night's inbound? And FNC reported there might be another BA flight cancelled as well.

[freedom4ever]

The Post 2 is right, post 3 is wrong . God, I'm going back to bed. I give up.

[eastforker]

I think I know what is happening.Since we monitor phones,e-mail and other ways to communicate , couriers are being used to transfer sensitive info needed for an attack.Sounds like we are monitoring which passengers are going where and how often.Just a guess but it sounds plausible.

[Peach]

Thanks so much for all your hard work posting articles early every morning. Happy New Year to you and yours.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Is this the fourth flight cancelled? I wonder what side of the pond the terror threat is aimed at.

[kristinn]

No. The flight cancelled last night (#222) is the return flight of #223. Because it never left Heathrow yesterday, it was ready to leave there today.

[mewzilla]

I'm slow this morning. I thought 223 was the inbound from Heathrow last night and 222 was the outbound from Dulles today.

[leadpenny]

They're gonna turn IAD into a boneyard for BA 747s.

[kristinn]

It's the fourth BA flight cancelled, but the second directly for security reasons-the other two were return flights using the same jet.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Thanks for the clarification.

[kristinn]

223 is a morning flight from Heathrow. 222 is a return flight at night from Dulles.

[cyncooper]

Wow. Something's got them jumpy.

I agree. I do not think they take this step lightly, especially as the more often it happens the more questions it raises, drawing more and more attention.

[eastforker]

RE post 9. If BA flight doesn't leave london,fly to paris and try to come from there,if that doesn't work try spain or germany.If the same names keep coming up on those flights you might just get the one you want.

[kristinn]

We all need to stay informed as best we can these days. Happy (and safe) New Year to you!

[TaxRelief]

THIS is breaking news?

[sawyer]

I frankly think all the terrorist have got PC's and are e-mailing each other and watching us go bonkers.They do not need to do a thing just use their PC's and sit back and laugh at us.

[KQQL]

ALSO:

---

The U.S. government shared threat information with the Mexican government, which canceled a scheduled U.S.-bound flight from Mexico because of security concerns. Agustin Gutierrez, Mexico's presidential spokesman, said Mexico did not receive convincing information for the cancellation.

"The question is what threat?" Gutierrez said. "This question must be answered by Homeland Security. If we are going to have a good climate of cooperation, the least that we can hope for are reasons."

Gutierrez also said the cancellation came after United States authorities said they would refuse to allow the plane to land, but Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse denied that.

http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/T/TERRORISM_THREAT?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Alas Babylon!]

Julian Philips on Fox & Friends just said that all these HS events have NOT born any "fruit" (though he's glad HS is doing them). He thinks we haven't caught anyone. Wow! Now he's a terrorism expert!

[mewzilla]

Well, just considering Ramzi Yussef's MO, I can understand why they could want to cancel a series of flights.

[kattracks]

British Airways cancels flight to D.C.

The Associated Press
1/2/2004, 8:25 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP) ? British Airways canceled one of its three daily flights from Heathrow to Washington on Friday following security advice from the British government, a spokesman for the airline said.

The same flight, BA 223, was canceled Thursday following security advice from the British government.

On Wednesday the same flight was kept on the taxiway at Washington Dulles International Airport for several hours shortly after landing, while U.S. authorities questioned passengers and crew on board.

[Alas Babylon!]

About the Mexican flight cancelation, I heard on the other BA thread yesterday that Air Mexico told HS they had a passenger list--but HS never got it. Did they simply not take one? It's possible. At least we see the USA is serious about this. I think Mexico isn't, and would just like to be PC and blame El Gringo for being too tough.

I'll see if I can find the citation I read earlier.

[Trust but Verify]

It's pretty obvious to me that whoever is up to no good apparently has BA infiltrated or they'd just get on a different airline. There have to be other airlines flying RT from Heathrow to Washington, yet all the cancellations are with BA.

[kristinn]

Thanks.

[Alas Babylon!]

Here it is, from debg on yesterday's thread:

..."In the case of a flight this week from Mexico, a Transportation Security Administration inspector based there told officials in the US that passengers boarding a flight for the US had not been properly screened, Government officials said.

One official said US transportation officials then told the airline: "You said there were procedures in place for that flight that weren't there. Turn it around.""

[KQQL]

BA flight to Washington cancelled

The BA flight has been under the spotlight for three days British Airways has cancelled a flight to Washington for the second day running, amid fears of a terror attack. Passengers had been checking in for flight BA223 to the US capital when BA said it would be grounded on government advice "due to security reasons".

The return flight from Washington to the UK has been cancelled as a result.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3362043.stm

[KQQL]

In December six Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles were grounded, at the request of the US.

The French government now believes the FBI had wrongly identified six passengers as potential terrorists, partly because of mistakes translating Arabic names.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3362043.stm

[TomGuy]

Julian Philips on Fox & Friends just said that all these HS events have NOT born any "fruit" (though he's glad HS is doing them). He thinks we haven't caught anyone. Wow! Now he's a terrorism expert!

Yeh, the media doesn't realize that they are getting maybe one-tenth of the real HS information. We may not know for years all the aversions and thwarted plans HS accomplished, quietly. Every day we go without another 9-11 level atrocity, I applaud the FBI, CIA, HS as keeping us safe. They are doing MUCH quietly, behind the scenes, out of the view of the naysaying media.

[over3Owithabrain]

Well I would rather they err on the side of caution than be lax and let some Islamogoons take down another plane.

[HarryCaul]

Sort of an odd situation that's difficult to theoretically explain.

If there's information a terrorist is on board, wait until they all show up search them. Load the plane with agents who search people again.

Search each piece of luggage by hand.

If there's something on the plane, go over it again and again. Switch planes. A few times if you have to.

What could explain just plain canceling the flight?

[Peach]

A good analogy with Ramzi Yousef. Just finished reading The New Jackals by Simon Reeve, written in 1999.

Yousef was the most dangerous explosives expert the FBI has ever investigated in over 70,000 explosions. He could take down a plane by using chemicals in a contact lens case and a wristwatch.

BTW, the book, written pre-9/11, mentions the growing relationship (and the specifics of that relationship) between OBL and Saddam.

[HarryCaul]

I'd buy mistranslating a name or two, but 6 on the same flight seems...less than likely.

[dawn53]

Ditto your remarks.

We don't know why the flights are being investigated or cancelled. I don't think they're overreacting. It's only a flight here or there, they're not shutting down the whole grid.

We've been over 2 years past 9/11 and not an attack yet. They must be doing something right. I would never have imagined we would have gone this long without another terrorist attack.

[prairiebreeze]

Yeh, the media doesn't realize that they are getting maybe one-tenth of the real HS information

Your right of course, but I think it drives some of them crazy.

Prairie

[TexKat]

Mike Emmanuel of Fox News is reporting this morning that France has informed the European WSJ that the Air France flight cancellations on Christmas Eve were due to a mistake by the FBI. Emmanuel reporting that the source told the European WSJ that the FBI assumed a name on a passenger list of a child was mistaken for someone else.

The FBI denies this.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

IMO, the media is doing us much more harm than good. All the questions and outrage they pose lead Americans to feel that they are entitled to know everything that is going on with everything.

I'm not saying to give total control to the government in everything, but for crying out loud...didn't any of these whining people ever play Stratego or Battleship?

[MizSterious]

How many cancellations from London in all, I wonder? Does this make three, or is it more than that?

[MizSterious]

Isn't that just like the French? I'll trust the U.S. denials over the French accusations any day.

[cyncooper]

I frankly think all the terrorist have got PC's and are e-mailing each other and watching us go bonkers.

What?

Cancelling a flight and discussing it is going "bonkers"?

I think you are the one who needs to get a little perspective.

Nobody is hysterical here. Just interested and, yes, a bit concerned that obviously the intelligence shows a plot is afoot.

Disregard if you wish.

[snopercod]

It seems to me that by cancelling flights, they are admitting that their security procedures are nugatory.

[Judith Anne]

The French government now believes the FBI had wrongly identified six passengers as potential terrorists, partly because of mistakes translating Arabic names.

And I should believe the French because...

Cancelling flights because of unsubstantiated threat information is vastly superior to threats made good. Just my opinion.

[TomGuy]

Mike Emmanuel on FoxNew reporting that military escorts have been sent to accompany "several" Air France flights coming to the US today.

hmmm.

[snopercod]

They do not need to do a thing just use their PC's and sit back and laugh at us.

Exactly. And pretty soon - if the sheeple and the media get their way - we'll be killing our own people for them by shooting down airliners full of American citizens.

You can't turn on Fox News these days without some "security expert" building a concensus that we need to shoot down any aircraft that strays off course.

When it happens, the Taliban have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

[Hotdog]

Who's on first?

[Cagey]

THIS is breaking news?

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