Posted on 08/19/2006 4:54:48 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed.
The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.
Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes before it was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB 613 in the departure lounge refused to board it.
The incident fuels the row over airport security following the arrest of more than 20 people allegedly planning the suicide-bombing of transatlantic jets from the UK to America. It comes amid growing demands for passenger-profiling and selective security checks.
It also raised fears that more travellers will take the law into their own hands - effectively conducting their own 'passenger profiles'.
The passenger revolt came as Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary was accused of using the terror crisis to make money. Government sources say he boasted to an official at the Transport Department: "Every time I appear on TV, I get a spike in sales."
The Tories said the Government's failure to reassure travellers had led the Malaga passengers to 'behave irrationally' and 'hand a victory to terrorists'.
Websites used by pilots and cabin crew were yesterday reporting further incidents. In one, two British women with young children on another flight from Spain complained about flying with a bearded Muslim even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding.
The trouble in Malaga flared last Wednesday as two British citizens in their 20s waited in the departure lounge to board the pre-dawn flight and were heard talking what passengers took to be Arabic. Worries spread after a female passenger said she had heard something that alarmed her.
Passengers noticed that, despite the heat, the pair were wearing leather jackets and thick jumpers and were regularly checking their watches.
Initially, six passengers refused to board the flight. On board the aircraft, word reached one family. To the astonishment of cabin crew, they stood up and walked off, followed quickly by others.
The Monarch pilot - a highly experienced captain - accompanied by armed Civil Guard police and airport security staff, approached the two men and took their passports.
Half an hour later, police returned and escorted the two Asian passengers off the jet.
'There was no fuss or panic'
Soon afterwards, the aircraft was cleared while police did a thorough security sweep. Nothing was found and the plane took off - three hours late and without the two men on board.
Monarch arranged for them to spend the rest of the night in an airport hotel and flew them back to Manchester later on Wednesday.
College lecturer Jo Schofield, her husband Heath and daughters Emily, 15, and Isabel, 12, were caught up in the passenger mutiny.
Mrs Schofield, 38, said: "The plane was not yet full and it became apparent that people were refusing to board. In the gate waiting area, people had been talking about these two, who looked really suspicious with their heavy clothing, scruffy, rough, appearance and long hair.
"Some of the older children, who had seen the terror alert on television, were starting to mutter things like, 'Those two look like they're bombers.'
"Then a family stood up and walked off the aircraft. They were joined by others, about eight in all. We learned later that six or seven people had refused to get on the plane.
"There was no fuss or panic. People just calmly and quietly got off the plane. There were no racist taunts or any remarks directed at the men.
"It was an eerie scene, very quiet. The children were starting to ask what was going on. We tried to play it down."
Mr Schofield, 40, an area sales manager, said: "When the men were taken off they didn't argue or say a word. They just picked up their coats and obeyed the police. They seemed resigned to the fact they were under suspicion.
"The captain and crew were very apologetic when we were asked to evacuate the plane for the security search. But there was no dissent.
"While we were waiting, everyone agreed the men looked dodgy. Some passengers were very panicky and in tears. There was a lot of talking about terrorists."
Patrick Mercer, the Tory Homeland Security spokesman, said last night: "This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally.
"For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense."
Monarch said last night: "The captain was concerned about the security surrounding the two gentlemen on the aircraft and the decision was taken to remove them from the flight for further security checks.
"The two passengers offloaded from the flight were later cleared by airport security and rebooked to travel back to Manchester on a later flight."
A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Malaga said: "These men had aroused suspicion because of their appearance and the fact that they were speaking in a foreign language thought to be an Arabic language, and the pilot was refusing to take off until they were escorted off the plane."
This is quite simple to do: when Mr X check in, his luggage is tagged and the tag has his names and entered on the computer system. When the boarding time comes and he fails to board the plane, the computer will alert the gateagent that Mr X is "no show". They will then trace tag number(s) of the luggage(s) that was/were checked in by Mr X. In this case it/they will be quickly removed.
You are right. It's time for a full-fledged grass roots effort. We will not be silenced. We will NOT be fed a load of manure. We will continue to profile and we will not give away our common sense.
Furthermore, the governments are ELECTED by us, and if they do not do what we hired them to do -- "That to secure these Rights (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness), Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed," -- then we are compelled to act --
"And that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of those Ends, it is the RIGHT of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government."
I love the Declaration of Independence. And our mandate therein.
Here's the bottom line, really. The airlines are in BUSINESS. We are their clients. If they refuse to profile and we refuse to fly, then what? Our loss is small but theirs is their PROFIT.
I think we have the winning poker hand here.
good!
Agreed.
Except that . . . I'd not be very thrilled to have any planes flown by Mooselimbs across our borders. And, I'd want planes full of Mooselimbs to have super thick and secure bulkheads and doors to the flight deck.
You are to be commended for putting the safety of your children first. There are fine beaches within driving distance, without the stress of flying these days. I intend never to fly again. It's not worth the hassle.
The reason why this is an issue for me is because I think it was a victory for the terrorists.
And maybe have them land at island airports outside the borders and . . . uhhh . . .
swim in? LOL.
How about ride in in taxis driven by . . . ____________ what are the nominations?
Very important event....Government can not respond in a negative way without being replaced,,Should have September 12,2001...
Our continent has a lot of beauty to see and enjoy, whether beaches or rivers or canyons, etcetera. I know Hawaii is special and it IS the U.S., so I'm sorry you were so moved to cancel, but you do have your children to think of and as bboop said upthread, "Better safe than sorry."
P.S. I've never been to Hawaii myself... don't feel bad.
:^)
In general Arab looking people are refered to as Asians in the UK. My husband had cousins who live there. You can bet they were middle Eastern in appearance.
sorry ...should have happened
Nothing at all hysterical about flying a passenger jet into the ocean while chanting "Allah Akhbar" (or similar), is there?
Or taking your 6-month baby along in order to allay suspicions , while planning all along to detonate yourself, the baby, and the whole jet? All in order to kill "infidels" so you will get 72 units of eternal nookie?
Yes, I got your earlier post. But even despite that, some of your other arguments sound like someone running around with a fire extinguisher on the beach South of New Orleans as Katrina rolled in.
Cheers!
ping
OK, fellow citizens, why don't we just start calling LAX and other passenger terminals and asking airlines, "Do you profile?" And when they say "No" tell them you won't fly with them for that reason.
I bet they would hear us then.
El Al could add a few legs out West here, that would help. And real soon it would be public if any of them did. And we could fly them.
"Assuming demonstrated screening, and Arabs with heavy clothes would be screened to death ethnic profiling or no, to abuse folks this way,"
First of all, you are assuming that someone else screened the way you did. I do not assume that.
Second, it is not just heavy clothing, it is heavy outerware while it is hot.
Third, I don't know about the UK, but here in the states, our TSA Secretary enforced a rule as to how many Arabs could be screened. I hope that rule has been changed, but I have not heard that it was.
Last, The 2 men who were wearing thick, heavy outerware could have been trying to conceal something, and that is what most here are thinking. I think it is also possible they were sick. Seeing someone dressed that warmly in during a hot spell could be a contagious sickness. The fact that the men had to wait told that sickness was not the problem, but do you really think it is a good idea to get into close quarters, like a plane without letting time tell first?
I don't.
BAD Idea. They could still fly into things and kill more Americans.
Screw'em ALL. They don't deserve to live here, and they certainly have no right to further inconvienence civilized people.
Or suggest the other airlines consult with El Al as to how to profile...!!
I think we need that guy on planes sometimes.
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