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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."
Wearing heavy clothing in a summer heat wave? Maybe it's a test run to gauge passenger reactions.
Having been to Spain, in August...I can tell you that no one wears a leather jacket in the midst of summer. It just doesn't happen. If these two idiots showed up and kept wearing the leather jackets...there is a reason. Whatever the security guys missed...would have been used. This makes me believe they've figured a way to insert the material into the lining of the jacket.
I love it. Preemptive backlash.
It will be fun watching the MSM handle this.
Keeps the concession vendors happy.
I have no problem with nervous/hysterical passengers deplaning. None whatsoever. They should forfeit their ticket price, but I agree, if they want off the plane, let them go.
I do vote for people from Oklahoma that want to protect us but unlike Oklahoma some voters from blue states send nutcases to the Congress that could care less so I will continue to ground myself and drive!
Arm the passengers!
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IMO the only hysteria was in the reporting. I agree the plane should have left with just the two if the piolet was ok with that but anyone that gets off a plane or any public transportation because they consider it unsafe should get a refund or exchange ticket.
One huge problem with not charging the deplaning passenger(s). Luggage belonging to individual passengers, must accompany said passengers. A deplaning passenger's luggage would have to be located and removed, which would delay the plane and create a huge inconvenience for all others.
Your post reminded me of my dear late daddy, a country boy who would sometimes forget to remove his little pocket knife before he went through the metal detectors at airports, as it was a habit for him to keep one of his old fashioned, boyscout type, knives in his pants pocket. He had done so since he was a kid.
This was pre 9-11, but he flew alot from 97-01 to my daughter's college basketball games. He took it all with a grain of salt, and lost some of those little pocket knives during those times. We would laugh about how harmless he was, wouldn't hurt a fly. After the first few times, and a few reminders from us, he finally remembered to remove them before leaving for the airport.
How things have changed since then. I guess my point is, instead of targeting little old ladies (not the first time I've heard of this happening), and MILITARY personnel, maybe it's time for a little profiling. Or at least let it be equal, and not let people of Arabic descent get a pass so we can be considered "PC".
And please thank your daughter, from me, for her service to our country.
I used to fly 4-6 times a year. Mostly to see my parents in FL. Now I drive the 9 hours and I can do what I want without the BS at airports. Good thing also, as I always took 2 Pepsis on the plane with me and snacks to eat when I flew. Now that that is banned, I doubt I will be flying anytime soon.
We drive to Orlando every year (15 hours). Cancelled a trip to Vegas, we had planned for 2 years in 2003. My wife never liked flying anyway (she only went on 1-2 flights a year), and since Vegas is just too far a drive, I have put it off. I had thought of going there in 2008 before this latest crap at the airports.
I call BS. There are many times when I catch a flight with a connector, and my luggage goes nonstop, or vice versa. What you speak of was the "old" method where we thought that muzzies would not blow themselves up. Bags are now screened in a different fashion, because the old method jammed up flight schedules. Suffice that if you are going somewhere for more than a day or two domestic or international, UPS, Airborne, and FedEX are GREAT ways to send your stuff in advance. Some of us do this every week. Guess what? A freight tracking number works much better than dealing with the gorilla in baggage claim. And you get out of the airport an hour earlier. It is not a crime to fly without luggage. Yet.
Just 3 weeks ago, I tried to check my luggage 6 hours before my flight and was told I could not.
I have also been on a plane when a passenger deplaned and our plane was delayed while that passenger's luggage was removed.
Of course luggage doesn't always accompany a passenger --- several times my luggage comes in on the next flight --- but when a passenger deplanes, you watch and see what happens.
Just wondering, are those two Pepsis being taken away from you worth getting on a plane with terrorists with the potential to blow said plane to smitherines with liquid explosives smuggled in?
I don't fly anymore, but if I did, I would darn well be glad for the "inconvenience" of leaving my pepsi behind in return for tighter security.
Will do! I don't mind going through security several times but it grinds me to no end to see Arabs walk right on the plane with no check. I want profiling or I will save my money and spend it on gas for my SUV!
LoL. That is true. We can now check baggage curbside. If you remember, there was no curbside check in for baggage for 15 months after 9/11 (but what do I know). Some resourceful people found out that a person could send their baggage to the hotel in advance, contact the valet at the hotel and have pressed clothing with light starch hanging in the closet upon check-in. At the least the luggage would be in the "closet". The only point that I attempt to make is that planning can make air travel relatively hassle free.
Charters I could live with! It is the commercial flying where you have no say except to do what these people did with refusing to fly.
Was in Florida when this terrorist plot in London went down and the news coming out of Orlando Airport was bad for anyone flying with all the delays. My youngest daughter at that point said I was right and she was glad we drove and didn't fly like she wanted. My main reason at that time for not flying was taking things to my oldest daughter and her husband and knew we would be bringing back a lot of things (which we did).
If I had missed my Chicago to LA flight, due to my mental lapse, does that mean the flight shuts down, until they get my luggage out of the cargo hold(which was where it was since it was transfered from the London to Chicago flight), if I had chosen instead to more fully savor at my leisure the joys of the intricacies of O'Hare airport?
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