Summary of Friday's Diversions

(from my travel agent):
There were at least FOUR. This morning, an Aer Lingus flight on its JFK-Shannon-Dublin run was stopped in Shannon due to a phoned-in bomb threat against the plane. Passengers were evacuated and those headed to Dublin were eventually reaccommodated. American Airlines Flight 55 from Manchester, England, to Chicago/O'Hare was diverted to Bangor, Maine. There was a threat against the plane, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Passengers say a man was led away from the plane in handcuffs. A US Airways flight from Phoenix to Charlotte was diverted to Oklahoma City after an air marshal subdued a passenger. And, finally, and most bizarrely, a passenger on a Continental Airlines from Buenos Aires checked a bag with dynamite in it. The dynamite was discovered when the flight landed in Houston. The passenger claimed it was a "souvenir" from a Bolivian mine. The passenger--and the dynamite--were detained and the plane continued to Newark, where it was swept again for explosives.

We should all be thankful that no one had a bottle of water on that flight up from EZE. That would have really caused a ruckus. A stick of dynamite in checked baggage is ok, but throw those bottles of water away.

a) Golly -- there's threats everywhere!

or

b) This security stuff is getting really out-of-hand.

Hmmm, let me think a moment. OK, I choose (b)!

Bruce

But the Kettles will probably choose (a).

Think about it. All terrorists have to do to shut down international aviation is get a bunch of those anonymous Tracfones and call in bomb threats all day.

Yes. Further proof the terrorists have actually won.

You missed at least two...

• A passenger on U.S. Airways Flight 554 found a knife...
  http://www.nbc10.com/news/9739653/detail.html
  
• A Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Bakersfield, Calif., was diverted to El Paso International Airport Friday afternoon after a panel was discovered to be missing from a lavatory, said Pat Abeln, the airport's director of aviation.
  http://www.elpasotimes.com/breakingnews/ci_4238552

I'm sure there were more but I'm too tired to count or to look.

A panel missing from a lav?!?!! Most planes from domestic carriers are more duct tape than aluminum these days, and they're worried about a freakin tile loose in the crapper?

Idiots all around it seems.

Total of 7 (seven) incidents today, I believe.

Comrades Chertoff and Hawley are making other, ordinary no-talent ... clowns look good on a Friday.

Maybe there's a silver lining.

If sheople see all this idiocy, maybe, just maybe, they'll even say this is ridiculous and see TSA for the farce that it is.

Maybe not, but I can dream.

This has to be the stupidest (near) diversion of all:



http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060826/D8JO04AG1.html

(Second to last paragraph.)

This just has to be some sort of joke.

Sensitivity of the information???

I heard about this one on one of the news programs last night-they said the kid started claiming he had a bomb. No idea if he was a UM or w/someone.

I am quite certain the terrorists are watching the DHS/TSA overreaction closely to see what sorts of things cause maximum economic damage.

On the other hand, if this keeps up, it will force the airlines to publicly complain...which then has the potential to get people in influential positions (not that FT isn't influential ) to start asking the important questions about whether a threat really exists. Or if overreaction is the real threat.