Airline bans family over bomb joke

[theearthisround]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041216/344/f8orq.html

A family has been banned for life by an airline after a teenage boy made a joke about a bomb being in his aunt's hand luggage.

Ryan, from Ashton in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, was taken away by armed police for questioning before being released.

He and his mother Sue were then kicked off flight WW3113 and were banned from all bmibaby flights.

[liberalhistorian]

1. This is one of the many reasons why

I refuse to fly anymore, on any airline. I admit, the kid was really stupid to say what he did, but he is still a kid, after all, and part of being a teenager is saying and doing dumb things. And the passenger screening programs like CAPPS, along with the airline's providing the government with the names and personal information of all their passengers, truly infuriate me.

[aikido15]

7. Hell, why not...

FBI questioned a kid and his parents because he made a comment about the war...I think the kid was 11? Very young, too young for FBI to question him because of something he said...ugh

[MercutioATC]

2. They're pretty damn sensitive.

About 3 years ago, my son (then 8) and I flew to Chicago. He was intimidated by the security checkpoint, so I told him that the screeners were there to protect us. He asked if we'd be detained, and I told him "No. You don't have a gun or anything that could hurt somebody else. That's the only reason the security people would stop you.".

A security person (about 20 years old) glared at me and said he could detain me for talking like that (I was using an FAA ID card to get through security, mind you). We got through security fine, but my son was a little scared.

These are NOT people to be crossed..even if you're not really "crossing" them...even if your ID proves that you spend your career making air traffic safe...

[Deja Q]

21. Then maybe they need to put up some damn disclaimers...

(I made my own post on this subject, but I'm appalled that these guards act as if they've got a gigant cactus up their rectum when nobody else (then and just as likely now because "it's too expensive" or whatever) to put up signs or pamphlets or something to teach people, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN, what to say and do in our free country.

[MercutioATC]

23. I think it's the combination of the 10th grade education and the uniform.

In my original post I mistyped. This was about 5 years ago...before the TSA existed.

I've actually found the TSA to be pretty good. Amazing what heppens when you hire peofessionals.

[NYC]

3. Collective punishment?

One family member made a joke (poor choice), but the entire family is banned for life. Seems a little overdone, doesn't it?

People have been punished for a "crime" committed by someone else.

[BikeWriter]

4. They shoot kids for less...

...in Israel!

[kcass1954]

5. Hell...

We shoot 'em for less in Iraq!

[Griffy]

6. We PAY them to shoot Iraqis! nt

[Nashyra]

8. Most of the TSA are glorified security agents

There are some good ones, but they are on a power trip.

[Retrograde]

19. maybe, but this happened in the UK

not the US this time.

Actually, I generally approve of the TSA as opposed to the previous system: the ones at SFO (I fly ~every other month) are professional, and there seems to be some consistancy across the country now.

[BikeWriter]

10. That's true, unfortunately!

I dunno why we can't all just get along...

[JohnLocke]

9. Actually, that's bullshit.

[BikeWriter]

11. Oh, do I have to produce the url?

I can. Oh, here it is.

"Instead, the tape shows that the soldiers swiftly identified her as a "girl of about 10" who was "scared to death".
The tape also reveals that the soldiers said Iman was headed eastwards, away from the army post and back into the refugee camp, when she was shot.
At that point, Captain R took the unusual decision to leave the post in pursuit of the girl. He shot her dead and then "confirmed the kill" by emptying his magazine into her body."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1358173,00.html

[sherilocks]

14. What does this have to do with the original thread?

The captain was charged in a military court. While this atrocity might deserve its own thread, it just becomes flame-bait when tossed into LBN. This is old news, worthy of discussion, but not here.

http://www.ariga.com/2004-11-26.shtml

<snip>

A few days after R. was indicted in military court on charges that could add up to at least 10 years in military prison ....

<snip>

[BikeWriter]

17. My apologies for bringing it up.

I made a random remark and was called on it.

[WhiteTara]

18. and Brazil eom

[InvisibleBallots]

12. Sorry, I agree with George Carlin about airport security

Flying in an airplane shouldn't be completely safe. You need a little danger in your life. Frankly, I'd rather take my chance with some crazy terrorist armed with boxcutters or a bomb than to have to get stripped searched by some power tripping security guard everytime I want to get on an freaking airplane. I'm only being half-sarcastic.

[Massacure]

22. I'd trust my luck with a box cutter but not a bomb...

Bombs aren't as easy to hide as a box cutter though. You just need the proper chemical detecter to do it.

[Voltaire99]

13. The army is going to level his tree house, too.

Just for safe measure.

[Skittles]

15. you can't threaten the prez, you can't make bomb jokes in airports

it's a zero tolerance policy and everyone freaking knows it.

[BikeWriter]

16. Sorry, all. I seem to have hijacked the thread. Back to the topic.

Yes, I've heard those airport guards are asses. :-)

[Deja Q]

20. When I was 15, I told the guard checking our baggage, and in a comedic...

tone, "No bombs!"

The guard, who was so old that a light wisp of a wind would have turned him into dust particles, hammered into me like the good drill sargeant he must've been 50,000 years ago, making all sorts of threats about the FBI and such.

Well, let's see: I was 15. Didn't get training from the parents, school system, church, government, friends, enemies, acquaintance,s strangers, or anybody else "This is what not to say under any conditions in an airport security queue". Good grief, even the frigging airport had nary a sign or pamphlet.

I feel sorry for the family. It was crap in 1989 and it's far worse now. The whole system is a farce. They are supposed to check all baggage and, let's face it, any person has the potential to say something. Doi. We're human. Now if these guards are so utterly insecure about themselves and/or their pay that they need to belittle and emotionally destroy naive children who aren't going to know any better for one reason or another, then they can go sit on their finger and spin on it until it bleeds raw.