Air Travelers Brace for More Complicated Airport Procedures

AP | Sunday, December 29, 2002

[Theo]

I do fly with some regularity, as I mentioned. And when I know that those around me have received at least a few look-overs, that does subdue a bit of anxiety I have about flying. If I had a choice of either no searches (of me or anyone else) or searched (of everyone, including me), of course I'd choose searching....

Again, searching is one of the things that must be done, along with profiling and perhaps other things. If you don't actually get on a plane that often, then you might not understand what I'm talking about....

[wjcsux]

I agree 100%. If the place isn't within the range of my pickup truck, I don't need to go there. I refuse to spend any of my own hard earned money to have my Constitutional Rights violated by a bunch of uneducated 3rd World goons.

[snopercod]

The Jihad against the airlines continues...

[snopercod]

Nationalized Airlines

Bingo! I wonder if that wasn't the intent of the Bush administration all along. Clinton couldn't have gotten away with it, but Bush can (and probably will) because he is "one of the good guys".

[Theo]

sheeple...

All right, stop the ad hominem attacks....

If that "shoe bomber" had better matches, what use would a gun be against him?

Again, I am in favor of searches AS WELL AS other types of terrorism deterrence, including concealed weapons permits, profiling, etc.

[discostu]

Pretty tame life you've led if getting frisked once was the most humiliating experience of your life. Like so many of the "horror tales" I've heard since 9-11 your "shameful experience" has all the same actions event security put heavy metal concert goers through every day. Also the same thing that happens coming back form Mexico if you wear a tie-dye shirt and have nothing to claim. It's just a pat down.

Any kind of redesign on the planes will be grandfathered in via plane replacement and maybe other overhauls. Same way any safety feature gets implemented. Grounding significant portions of the fleet to strengthen the cockpit door just ain't gonna happen, the air industry is shakey enough as it is.

[discostu]

And of course with modern theater makeup techniques it takes about an hour to turn a middle eastern man into a midwestern woman. Profiling is great, but it's not the panacea, and eradicating the rights of every middle easterner in America will do nothing more than add enemies as we tell them that the radical fringe in their midst is right and we really do hate them all.

[Theo]

Agreed, on both your points. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, but the "right" isn't as simplistic as we might at first opine.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

Nonsense. If a horror attack happens, you just wait and see how quickly it will take to do what is necessary. It won't be pretty and it won't be surgical, but it will work, regardless of any "modern theater makeup techniques".

[Theo]

Augh. Can a person not be both concerned about what his fellow passengers have in their carry-on baggage/pockets AND be 100% pro-individual liberty? Why does it have to be such a simplistic "either-or"? Why not "both-and"?

Again, we need to be vigilant. I am vigilant. I look at as many of the passengers as I can while waiting to board the plane. I look at their demeanor, their eyes, their behavior, and so on. I have planned what I'd do in case of "emergency" (including stripping off my belt and choking the person, using pens to poke out their eyes, communicating with follow passengers, etc.).

I *am* willing to defend myself. I *also* want the person next to me and down the aisle from me to have been searched.

Can't you slow down and try to understand what I'm saying? Both-And not Either-Or....

[homeschool mama]

I agree with you, Theo.

My husband will be escorting his mother on Sunday to Arlington Nat'l Cemetery...to bury his stepfather. That means a cross country flight. He is well prepared to do what is necessary to ensure a safe flight. However, I'd sure wish they'd profile more...having my 76 year old mother in law's shoes and body checked go way beyond...

[discostu]

Nonsense yourself, if we go the internment camp route we might as well put al Qaida's phone number on all the news broadcasts with pictures of the camps because their membership will sky rocket. There are nearly 1 billion Muslims on this rock, maybe 100,000 and nut jobs. If we start trating them all like bad guys they all will become bad guys.

You should get down to your nearest college theater, bring some bum off the street and a picture of your mother, then time how long it takes them to make the bum the spitting image of your mother. We should use profiling, but it shouldn't be used exclusively because it's too easy to thwart. Just look at the DC snipers, black Americans, they could just as easily have hijacked a plane and no amount of stopping middle eastern men would have even slowed them down.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

I will not cower because al-Qaida might recruit more Islamonazis. Our actions must rattle the teeth of these fanatics. Until they fear us - really fear us, we are dead meat. Tell me that the citizens of a country with Trident submarines and 200 million guns owned by citizens must cower under our beds because we tried to rid ourselves of our internal enemies. Yes, life as we know it will not continue, but I guarantee that the "cool-headed" approaches will all go by the wayside after a horror attack.

[discostu]

Nobody is asking you to cower for anything. I just think we've got a better chance of winning the war if we don't gift wrap millions of new recruits for the bad guys.

Now how will imprisoning people that don't want to blow up Americans strike fear in the hears of people that do? If that worked then the war on drugs would have already scared the terrorists into inaction.

If the "cool-headed" approach ever goes the wayside we'll lose. You don't win wars by acting like hotheaded blood lusting morons. You win wars with cold rational calculation.

[Sparta]

The eventual goal of these security measures are to create a nationalized airline paid for by you the taxpayer.