A FAM Solution (Modest Proposal)
 

Instead of FAMs taking up first class seats, they fly as fake flight attendants? They can use those F/A seats and could also monitor the entire plane. The displaced F/A's can either sit in Y of F is there is space or just not fly while getting paid.

Another solution is to put 2 rows of coach in front of first class. :D

(I'm serious about the first one.)

What do you think?

- Pat

Actually, I kind of like the second one.

Mike

It might actually require the FAMs to do something for once.

You mean instead of playing video games and shooting mentally ill people? :rolleyes:

I still like the idea of dressing them up like the Guardian Angels -- the red berets and the white tee shirts... :)

And I still think it would be easier to train the FAs in martial arts and the pilots in the use of stun guns.

The additional training would cost the taxpayers less than the salaries of the FAMs. The airlines would have two more FC seats to sell on a whole slew of flights. And we would no longer have guns in the cabin.

Everybody wins (except the FAMs, who would probably have to get actual jobs).

Exactly. I thought the whole idea of the TSA screening meant that everyone inside security was "safe". It there are FAM's on board, it means they don't trust their own system. How safe is that? :confused:

The only thing with training for martial arts is that it takes a few years to master the basics. I was in it for over 2 years and still was a year a way from getting a black belt. And I was one of the "faster" movers. Some people study for years and don't progress as quickly.

A black belt doesn't mean you're an ... kicker, it only means you've mastered the "basics." And I use that term loosely.

Add to that space is pretty tight on a plane, martial arts wouldn't be very effective.

So give them regular ongoing training. It would still cost far less than paying for the FAM program.

I'm not suggesting they get all Bruce Lee on the bad guys. They just need to learn how to stop a physical attack (much like anti-rape defense classes) long enough for passengers to come to their aid (and as has been demonstrated multiple times since 9/11, the passengers will come to their aid). Give the FAs some decent training and maybe a kubaton or stun gun and a bad guy with a screw driver won't scare the FAs so much.

And it's not like two FAMs with pistols are going to be that much MORE effective on a plane. If a suicidal terrorist wants to take the plane over, waving a gun in his face isn't going to be much of a deterrent. And discharging a firearm while in flight seems like a very, very bad idea.

Right-handed shooting FAMs always in seat 2B. Left-handed shooters in 2C. (This is for single-aisle planes.) Row 2 is better than row 1 so that the person in 1B or 1C can be used as a human shield.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=524449

that's not unreasonable.

on my last CO flight out of TLV, the FAM's were in 2B and 3D.

As long as you brought up a serious question...

It's called concentric circles of security. No truly professional provider of security services will tell you that their system is 100% foolproof. The answer to the potential for missing a threat is to create backups to your backups.

Travel on LY involves pre-arrival checks on pax, intensive security at check- in, x-ray/bomb detection, standard TSA-style security check (by the airport, AFTER EL AL), re-check prior to boarding, air marshalls, bomb-resistant luggage containers, and a host of other measures at the airport (especially TLV) and on the plane that are less obvious.

This is not an argument that the US should adopt all that. I'm just pointing out that what makes Israeli security so good isn't just that they're good and professional at every level, which they are. It's that they recognize that every level needs a backup.

There are many things that TSA will allow you to bring on board but still can be used as deadly weapons. Such things are all glass items (bottles of wine and liquer), belts, plastic knives and forks, small blade items that are allowed and so much more. For crazy people who might use those - you need those people on board.

Wow... I read that too fast and saw, "mentally shooting ill people," which isn't very healthy either :p

Why not put coach in front all together and the premium classes in the back?