"You don't wish to fly with me? You Bigots!"
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."
I agree. Isolate them to their dirt-bag countries...or, shoot'em. I don't care which.
I'm sure we can work out a set of rules to ensure the safety of airline passengers based on the no-Muslim principle. The white convert wore Islamic clothes and beard. No fly for him. The loony lib that caused a terror scare on the flight the other day came from Pakistan. No fly for her or anyone else traveling from Pakistan, or any other Muslim country. Recent passport stamp from a Muslim country? Hope you like boats. etc. etc. El Al does a great job of it, so it's definitely possible to do - when was the last time there was a terror attack on an El Al plane?
Now that IS funny!
Seems like you have two options. Watch those you suspect like a hawk and be ready to roll against them, or simply refuse to fly with them.
Target Airlines.
This could work to our advantage. Say you're in the middle seat between two fat guys. Call the stewardess over, say you heard them talking Arabic or acting suspicious, they get pulled off the flight, you get three seats all to yourself.
When in doubt - blow the whistle.
I guess that depends on your definition of terrorists. Clearly members of the IRA can be called terrorists. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols could just as easily be called terrorists.
Maybe he should have said all present-day terrorists are muslims? Seriously, there is little point in even mentioning Tim McVeigh as if that is some kind of counterbalance to the fact of muslims' propensity for terrorism. He is like a grain of sand compared to the Iraqi desert.
Absolutely! It is about time passengers and pilots decided to profile since the PC Governments won't. I will never fly with anyone that is dressed like these men, talks a foreign language, and keeps checking his watch, etc. Not going to happen. The way I feel right now, I wouldn't fly with anyone Arab and actually don't intend to fly anytime soon. I am going back to Florida in late Sep to my daughter's and once again I am driving from OK to FL.
It shows me that the passengers at least used a very uncommon thing and that's common sense.
I would want off of that plane too.
Because no one has been telling them all their lives that it is bad to pronounce your (real) opinions; check out the lady driving the SUV next to you on the freeway sometime - but don't expect her to let you into 'her' lane.
Hear! hear! to the other comments that the passengers' actions were completely rational. As usual the governments have it completely backwards. Political Correctness is a disease of the intelligentsia, and finds willing hosts in government employees. If the passengers had any faith that profiling was being used and those two mutts were examined as closely as their grandma would be, perhaps the passengers would have remained clam. But the passengers knew better.
This was not a mutiny. It was an anti-mutiny action, a belated boycott. Flight 93 was an anti-mutiny action that happened too late to save the flight.
Mutinies commandeered planes into the Twin Towers.
Merchants used to say: The customer is always right.
And some customers now have voted with their feet. Passenger satisfaction surveys? We don't need no stinkin' surveys. Especially if the customers are dead.
Bravo for alertness, what a concept.
Not an overreaction, in my opinion.
The best protection is self protection. I applaud these passengers. Just as we have discussed, ordinary citizens are going to start to take matters into their own hands.
"You don't wish to fly with me? You Bigots!"
Not too long after 9/11 Saturday Night (or Mad TV but I think SNL) had a great sketch, a fake ad for an airline that advertised, "Because we profile!"
Hilarious! Shoot, I'd even pay a few bucks extra if there were such a thing.
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