Back in 1997, I was flying CO STL-HOU every week. One time, the CO plane was delayed for some unknown reason...until Barbara Bush's spooks came out to inspect the plane and then pre-board her and and a bunch of other people traveling with her.

I thought she was quite nice and all, but I am still wondering about somethings:

Should the plane have an emergency like the Air France flight's, what would happen? Would the Secret Service folk hold US back in the burning plane to get her and her entourage out, or would they assist everyone equally? What exactly qualifies the Secret Service to inspect the plane, and are there any airline representatives checking THEM to be sure they don't overlook something or even sabotage the plane? Who in this case is looking after the rest of the passenger's interest? Or is the airline just going belly-up as far as the rest of the passengers are concerned?

I guess I'm also trying to figure out if they would block us from the exits until the political person was out. And, could they legally do this? I mean, we're talking about armed people here...if they chose to take control of the plane, we would have no means of stopping them.

Not trying to be paranoid, my first thought was kinda off-topic, to the extent of "Are these Secret Service people trained to do what CO people are trained to do? And is their focus on all PAX instead of their charges? I didn't think so then, and don't now, but just wondering about your take on this.