Airline chief: 'Terror leaders laughing in their caves'

Scotsman ^ | Saturday, 19th August 2006 | Alastair Jamieson

[SunkenCiv]

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary described some of the security measures as "farcical, Keystone Kops-like and completely insane and ineffectual". Pilots also attacked the measures, which ban them from taking toothpaste on to aircraft, and said subjecting flight crews to the same restrictions as passengers made "no sense at all"... Ryanair demanded the government return passenger-search requirements to pre-alert levels. It also wants the government to restore the hand-luggage allowance for passengers leaving British airports, and an assurance that military and police personnel would be released to help with airport security checks next time there is a major alert. Mr O'Leary yesterday gave the government a seven-day deadline to make the changes or face legal action, arguing that some of the security measures had been stupid and it was "completely untenable" to expect airport staff to continue working flat-out to cope with the new regulations. He said the delays at airports in the last few days had been "entirely preventable if the government had put in a couple of hundred police or army personnel" to help airport staff... Banning items such as water bottles and toothpaste was "nuts" and the terrorists "must be rolling around the caves of Pakistan, laughing". He said it was "complete horse manure" to infer that passengers either faced delays or death.

[LibWhacker]

LOL, me either, SC!

The whole story of political correctness is like some Dr. Seuss storybook gone bad. If I had just read about it in one of his books, and it weren't a reality for us, I wouldn't care one bit whether characters lived or died -- because they would simply be too darned ridiculously stupid and silly to deserve to live, more ridiculous by far than any of the silly creatures Dr. Seuss actually ever dreamed up.

[ZULU]

He's right.
The only sure way to travel safety is a simple one - NO MUSLIMS.

Everything else is just smoke and mirros and humilation for the "infidels" trying vainly to counter all these evil Islamic schemes.

[The Electrician]

the terrorists "must be rolling around the caves of Pakistan, laughing"

I dunno... It's hard to imagine any of those constipated terrorists rolling around and laughing at anything... Um, well, except maybe they laugh occasionally while they are rolling around in their caves and having relations with their sheep...

[jwparkerjr]

re: is that a prop plane?

No, I think it's a real airplane, not one that was sent over by the prop department.

[jwparkerjr]

Amen! I remember when I was a kid in the early 1950's reading all those predictions about what life in America would be like in the 21st century. Everyone with their own personal aircraft for their day-to-day travel, pills instead of food, free electricity because nuclear power had made power generation so cheap it cost more to account for it than to just deliver it, etc. If only we had known what the next century really had in store for us!

[DoctorMichael]

The way things are going at some point in the not-so-distant future, in preparation for boarding the plane, you'll have to completely undress at the airport and have a loose-fitting hospital-like robe to wear on the flight because you'll be able to take nothing with you directly on the flight.

This will be because we live with Neaderthals who worship a schizophrenic, genocidal pedophile. In the interest of Multiculturalism we are degrading our Culture.

[SittinYonder]

Best of both worlds - act outraged at the inconveniences your customers have to face so they think you are the good guy - meanwhile, the government regulations keep your passengers safe.