Originally Posted by
Doppy
Wow, the police report is really quite dull.
Apparently some pax and crew became nervous because they saw a bunch of Arabs, and then - since they were scrutinizing every single thing the Arabs did - managed to find reasons to confirm their suspicions. (Not much of a surprise here.)
Then there was another pax who thought he'd play detective, and found that one of the Americans of Iraqi decent wasn't giving him completely straightforward answers to the detailed, personal questions he as asking. More reason to confirm the suspicions he apparently had since the time he arrived at the airport and saw a bunch of Arabs. The Iraqi-American said that he didn't want to give out a bunch of information to somebody he didn't know, since he works for the government and could get in trouble: a pretty sensible policy when dealing with sensitive or classified information.
It's sad to see racism is well and alive. On some level, I can't blame the pilot for returning to the gate based on the call from the FA's. You don't want a problem in the air such as the cowboy detective trying to detain and wrestle the Iraqi American to the ground out of fear. I don't have a link, but there have been reports of pax getting suspicious in-flight and then pax wrongly detaining another pax in-flight because they were flying while Arab.
Had there been no curfew at SAN, I would hope they could have straightened it out quickly and sent the plane on its way.
Part of the problem, IMO, rests with the government and media here in the US. The government is doing a good job at scaring Ma and Pa Kettle, the 9/11 & terrorism card is being played by candidates running for office and appears on the news, and to top things off, when you're walking through an airport (ok, it varies depending on airport; some airports are worse then others) you hear the overhead announcements saying, "The current alert level is Orange - we are at a high state of security - report any suspicious activity immediately"
The election crap is only going to get worse as the terror card gets played.
I could see some nervous nelly getting spooked - but there is a lot of ignorance and racism out there too.