On my last flight I tried to make a game out of spoting the air marshal on my flight.

I learned something about myself: apparently I'm one to stereotype heavily. I kept changing my guess to the guy who looked the closest to a 19th century sheriff of a small Midwestern town.

Perhaps there is a better way to guess who the air Marshall is. Anyone know?

Better hurry - according to recent reports, the FAMs are departing at a pretty good clip.

News on that here: http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...-ryan-lovelace

From this article:
"While some marshals appear to have jumped at the chance to join other federal law enforcement agencies, others have left due to a belief that the agency repeatedly failed to protect them in the line of duty (and have) neglected to properly conceal marshals� identities on domestic and international trips."

As this concerns travel security, please follow the discussion as the thread moves to the apt forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Here are a couple that decided it was okay to bump a couple of us out of First Class in a 3 class UA 767.

When you get your seat assignment from 2C switched out, and you see some schlubby guy sitting there... well... it's pretty obvious. Or if it's the guy with the crew cut who bypasses the security checkpoint, signs a log, and he's on the plane before everyone else boards. There isn't much guesswork involved.

A few months ago, I saw a US Air Marshal with an out and visible firearm as he went walked to the lavatory. It was toward the end of the flight, and he must have gotten sloppy. I felt like saying, "Sir, could you put your gun away?" But I figured that I'd get handcuffed for stating the obvious.

When Delta flew from Atlanta to Tel Aviv nonstop, I remember watching the FAMs all "huddle" and then bypass the gate screening for the flight. They were obvious to everyone.

And on a United 777 from San Francisco to Frankfurt, they were the only other passengers in GlobalFirst. Both stayed awake the entire time and only ate sundaes.

To me, it seems like a horribly boring job. And the agency's notoriety for sexism makes it sound even worse. I met some of them at a hotel lounge in Frankfurt. They didn't state their job, but it was clear to everyone. They were really delightful people: friendly, warm, and with a great sense of humour. Two were on my flight to Newark the next day. They just made tiny hand waves to acknowledge that I was saying hello. Then I chatted with one woman after landing.

Was he wearing his hat ?

Does anyone know the coverage rates of flights? I thought the goal was to get a marshal on every domestic and international flight. Is that even possible?

NewportGuy,
I don't believe that goal is attainable. The cost and logistics would make it prohibitive. Airlines like El Al, Royal Jordanian, among others, sustain the cost of multiple marshals per flight.

From what I have witnessed, there are typically FAMs on flights to "Category X" airports overseas: Frankfurt, London, Tel Aviv. I'm willing to bet that Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, and other UK destinations carry FAMs on each flight. I've flown the most from Frankfurt and Tel Aviv, and they've always been there. Not so obvious on Newark-Geneva.

Higher-risk airports elsewhere in the world seem likely. Caracas and Manila are both served by US carriers.

Within the US, I imagind that flights to and from Washington/National are the most heavily-guarded.

There are something like 25k flights per day in the US. If each one averages 2.5 hours gate to gate, that's something like 62,500 flight hours. Assuming an eight hour shift, and assuming (absurdly) zero down time between flights, you'd need something like eight thousand FAMs on duty every day, or about 12k in total. TSA won't release numbers, but I haven't seen an estimate over 4k, and most are 1-2k. So, figure the odds of a given flight having a FAM at well under 10%.

I've got a buddy who's an Air Marshal. He's a tough guy and a good shooter. You should all be happy that he is in the air. I am non-LE but carry daily and have for years. I try to spot carriers and the airport/airline procedures that identify the LEO's with firearms. I send the info to my buddy. I send it not to "out them" but to help them. I figure if I can spot them, the really well trained bad guys can. I want them hidden in plain sight.

Spotting the FAM may be harder to do soon.

Exclusive: TSA planning major shift in air marshal operations

I read with interest the silly criticisms that say moving the marshals to the back will jeopardize pax safety because if something erupts in the front of the plane, the FAM needs immediate unfettered access. If there are pax or carts in the aisles, precious minutes will be lost.

For some reason, these folks don't point out that the same situation exists today. If something erupts in the rear of the plane (shoe bomber, underwear bomber), the FAM might have to get past pax and carts to address the situation.

They also neglect to mention that the 'back' of the plane could easily be the first row of economy.

Why?


That's ..... nice for you.

There are no "really well trained bad guys". It's essentially a myth. If there were then planes would be falling out of the sky all over the US because there is also, effectively, no real security on US carriers inside the US.

Errr....you do realize that was posted: Apr 28, 15 8:44 am