What are the odd’s of having two phony passports on the same flight. Its got to be terrorism.
Loosen your foil hat.
Lots of unanswered questions about this element of the tragedy...for starters, how were the tickets paid for? If it was a cash transaction, that’s supposed to be an immediate red flag. On the other hand, if the tickets were paid for with a debit or credit card in the name of the passport holder, that’s indicative of a sophisticated operation. But if your passport was stolen, wouldn’t you notify the credit bureaus, your bank, etc., to be on the lookout for new accounts in your name and retain the services of an identity protection company? It wouldn’t be the first time that someone sold or traded their passport, then reported as being stolen.
Additionally, these passports were reported stolen or missing months ago—did the Italian and Austrian governments bother to report the theft, and why didn’t this information enter the database for suspicious passengers?
Various governments won’t admit it, but this has all the trappings of a well-executed terrorist plot. They found vulnerabilities in security at the airline and the airport and fully exploited them.
Worth remembering that one of Al Qaida’s early airline plots was aimed at bringing down U.S. jetliners over the Pacific, on their return flights from Asia. Several AQ affiliates in the region with more than enough resources to pull off a similar operation.