[Charlotte Corday]

Thus, the airline can provide minimum security at a cost of $350 million over five years, including the cost of one security failure, or $500 million over five years with zero security failures. Which security model do you thing the airline would choose?

It would depend upon how much extra you could charge for a ticket and how many more seats you could sell under each option, which is the factor you did not consider.

The true flaw in the proposal is that in our freewheeling tort law system, a single security breach resulting in the loss of an aircraft could essentially bankrupt the airline. This would lead the airline to screening/database requirements that would make the NKVD blush for shame. That in turn would make ground travel so appealing on routes up to 500 miles as to bankrupt the airline anyway.

[petercooper]

simple solution to all this---- profiling.

it's not p.c. - but it works. it's common sense

[Labyrinthos]

The true flaw in the proposal is that in our freewheeling tort law system, a single security breach resulting in the loss of an aircraft could essentially bankrupt the airline.

Not necessarily, and even if it did so what? Think about the number of airlines that are currently operating in bankruptcy. If anything, the ability to avoid civil liability by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is even more of an incentive to cut corners on security.