Marshals: Some Thoughts

The thorny question of using armed 'Sky Marshals' has been raised again with the news that they could soon be deployed on all transatlantic flights on US airlines. Although shrouded in secrecy it is thought that the undercover agents, who are there to prevent hijackers and terrorists seizing control of the aircraft, have been covertly operating on some flights for a number of years. The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has recently said that the government is willing to consider a request from Washington to put them on all flights in a bid to increase security.

Speaking in Washington on Monday she said "Firstly, with respect to Air Marshals, there are a whole range of ways which, as you can understand, we don't talk about necessarily in public and in detail, where we're already able make sure on an intelligence-led basis that there is the security there should be around flights. That's something that should be, and is, an important part of our relationship and the discussions that we have on a daily basis." That's cleared that up, then.

The issue has been raised by a 10-page memorandum of understanding sent by the American security administration to all EU capitals which, if accepted, would see a large increase in the number of armed guards on planes. Although the UK has allowed them on some flights, other EU countries have refused point blank.

America may also stiffen security in other ways, such a requiring all incoming passengers to provide detailed information before purchasing a ticket. The Eu may follow suit. Today it is unveiling proposals for non-EU passengers to register their finger prints when entering the European Union. All of which, if adopted, probably boils down to yet more aggravation for travellers.

Carry On Baggage

In a farce worthy of the 70's comedy series of the same name, the Government has revised the rules relating to carry-on baggage. The one-bag limit has been lifted at some airports, but not all. 19 airports have satisfied the Department for Transport that they can cope with relaxed restrictions, including (believe it or not given that the baggage competence there is among the worst in the known world) Heathrow. However Gatwick is among the airports which have not been approved. Along the same cock-eyed lines north of the border Aberdeen and Inverness have relaxed the rules, but not Glasgow or Edinburgh. Same in the midlands - more than one bag is OK at Manchester but not at Leeds Bradford.

Just to really complicate matters airlines which operate from more than one airport will have to enforce different rules according to location, and some airlines are opting to have different rules again. For example Ryanair will keep its one bag limit at Stanstead. The situation is the result of pressure being put on the Government to ease regulations relating to hand baggage on the grounds of the security threat not being great enough to justify the inconvenience to passengers. Rather than wait for every airport to be ready to handle the extra security burden Ministers have elected to bring in the change piecemeal, hence the confusion. As ever, there is serious tension between the need for security and the demands of impatient passengers; commercial considerations usually win.

The travelling public just isn't prepared to put up with the hassle that goes with real security. About 20 years ago the FAA were reviewing flight security and asked the Israeli airport security service for some help. Remember, to fly El Al you need to check in your hold baggage 24 hours in advance so that it can go through a depressurisation chamber (to trigger any altitude detonated bombs) and when arriving for your flight will go through hours of checks including a rigorous search and interview process which often includes members of the same group being separately cross examined about what they had been doing in Israel. The Isaeli's said words to the effect of "Sure, we could make you terrorism proof, but your airlines and passengers would never stand for the inconvenience." How right they were.

Cooper Mystery Revived

One of the longest running, and oddest, investigations in US criminal history has been revived by the FBI in the hope of solving the case. The strange events of 24th November 1971 aboard a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle when a passenger calling himself D.B.Cooper held the aircraft's occupants to ransom and succeeded in parachuting out of the plane with $200,000 in cash as a consequence are well documented...particularly well so on page 28 of Airline Confidential (but we would say that, wouldn't we?) and many other places

The FBI has just released for the first time pictures and information on its website (take look at www.fbi.gov). The renewed interest is the result of FBI Special Agent Larry Carr taking over the long outstanding case six months ago. He's a self confessed 'Cooper Buff' and reckons that the previous assumption that Cooper was a paratrooper is wrong. His theory is that the hijacker probably failed to even open his 'chute and modern technology could lead to his (presumeably pretty deep) grave.

A Revolutionary Speaks...

At St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday night police rushed to meet an Allegiant Air Flight after a female passenger made a bomb threat. It must have been frightening for everyone on board but the hoaxer had a very different take on it.

"I guess just to make a statement, potentially to be a social revolutionary, or maybe it was just a crazy thought. I'm not quite sure. It was no bad intention. I think things just got a little bit out of hand. By all means the only thing that I wanted to express to the media, and you guys, was that I apologize for the waste of time the waste of people's energy..." Of the police that showed up so quickly she said. "It was amazing response time the whole process to getting everybody off plane was amazing." She told them. "I wanted to make a true difference to society and I believe I have thank you very much have a good day.”

According to her mother. "How much damage does a person have to do because they can't get help before that balance is the money that the state spends on her if that plane had blown up, would that have been enough." Ford's mother, frustrated with a North Carolina mental institution for allowing her daughter out, blames budget constraints.

More on God and Flying

The Vatican's own airline has had its first run in with the real powers that be - French security officials. An Italian television personality, Paola Saluzzi, had to hand over a can of water collected at Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral to security officials at the city's airport on Monday before boarding a return flight to Rome. It seems that God is quite happy for people to fly as long as they don't carry liquids.

If You're Called Bryan Moore Change Your Name...

According to Fox News in the USA an 8-year-old boy who was about to catch a plane home from Cortez, Colorado was denied boarding because he appeared on a terrorist no-fly list. Bryan Moore was set to make his first plane trip after visiting his sister. According to the 8 year old ”They almost got me scheduled in and then the lady just bowed her head and said, ‘We can’t get you on this plane, you’re a terrorist.' It’s not really fair that I couldn’t get home because another man in the world was a terrorist,” Moore said.

Great Lake Airlines eventually cleared up the situation, but the plane had already left, making him wait another day before he flew home.

Quite why the airline thought an 8 year old was really a terrorist is unclear. Now we know it's often young men who do these terrorist acts but eight years old! And how many Bryan Moore's are there in the world?