FA told me that there was a criminal on board ...
 

Took an inter-asia UA flight last month in C. I dressed very very casually. An NYPD T-shirt that I bought from China town with $6 and a pair of shorts. My legs are very bulky and some people thought I was a soccer player. I was also wearing a crew cut.

Anyway, half time during the flight, one FA approached me and asked me if I am with a group of people in the back of the Y cabin. I said no... and he then asked me if I am a police officier. No again. Then he leaned over and said ... "Mr. BeamMeUp38, I am not supposed to tell you this, but the reason that I asked you these questions is that, a group of police officers are escorting a criminal in the back of the Y cabin..."

I smiled and acknowledged the receipt of the information, not knowing what to do with it. My mind was going :eek: and also I was thinking "thanks for sharing this type of information that I don't need to know..."

:eek: :eek: :eek:

I remember a shackled individual travelling with me NRT to the US. He was accompanied by three burly fellows.

Nothing new here. Happens quite often, even on international routes.

Here in Sacramento, we have many prisoner escorts flying. SMF is only about 30 miles from Folsom State Prison. Each morning at check-in, there are a number of escorts filling out special papers since they carry weapons. They fly all over the country, and then that afternoon or evening, they escorts prisoners back.

They do this 2-3-4 times a week. Thus, many of them are 1K. Many upgrade on the outbound. Then, if you watch when boarding a flight, you will sometimes see a group of three pre-boarding. The person in the center is holding his hands in front of him waist, usually with a sweatshirt or jacket drapped over his hands -- to hide the handcuffs. The prisoner and escorts usually sit in the back row, the poor prisoner stuck in a middle seat, his new-found friends on either side of him.

wow... I don't recall seeing anything unusual during the boarding process, but I was kinda knocked out by the drinks that I had at the RCC at NRT :p

The FA actually used the phrase I am actually not supposed to tell you but.... So I assumed that the person is probably not shackled and one may not be able to tell easily who the criminal is on board.

What about that alleged child molester guy who took Thai airline back here last year? I remembered he was in C eating jumbo shrimp. Was he shackled?

Why do they fly? If it is within the states, can't they just drive or take a bus???

I have seen officers taking people on flights. I don't think they would be uniformed or have big NYPD printed on them. Usually they sit in the back of the cabin (not necessarily Y) and keep a really low profile.

I think the FA was either an idiot or just trying to figure out a way to chat up with Sexy 1K ;) They should know from their briefing that who is related to whom.

I would have said "I am not supposed to tell you this, but that is my buddy there and I am going to help him get loose."

Might not be smart in this current situation but you can always claim you were responding to what you thought was a joke from the FA. The FA would be stuck - does he report you or not?

I wonder if the officers are 1K, and the situation is under control, if they ever give the prisoner an upgrade to F, or if there is some requirement that they sit in the last row of economy? If the seats in the last row of economy are taken, do they unseat the customers in those seats to assign them to prisoners and their escorts? Are there any other special procedures or lingo used in these operations? I wonder too if they use government fares, or just regular publishe fares? Is it just at their discretion if the prisoner is handcuffed or are they always handcuffed?

I know that there are special SSR's used when someone is deported out of the USA there is one SSR for a deportee with escort and a different SSR for a deportee without an escort? I also wonder what kind of tickets ICE/INS buys for the deportees? Also it would be interesting say if someone was deported LAX to LHR and the flight divertted in say JFK, to what extent is the airline liable to try to make sure the person doesn't walk off?

I am not sure I understand this... what would be report me for? :confused:

My guess is that those are extraditions, not transportation of prisoners. It seems safer to take a plane - much faster and less time for things to go wrong? I am sure in the case of extremely dangerous criminals, they don't fly commercial.

For claiming that you are there to help a criminal get away.

I think that is what the escorts are for... Don't think the airline is liable to anything.
However, I think in the situation of deportation, they don't usually just deport one to two people. Probably a lot of people got deported and hence charting a craft might be necessary. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Oh.... I did not say that... ;)
That would be a wrong joke said at the wrong place... Recall the incident of one mom utter the word bomb at the security check point when she was explaining to her dauther the purpose of the check at SIN. :cool:

On a recent SAT-LAX flight there were 7 people that pre-boarded with an escort, all carrying their scant belongings in clear plastic bags. I casually asked the GA what that was all about, and he declined to discuss it (not all that difficult to figure out actually). They did go with some class though, all were in E+.

Not a great surprise that when we landed at LAX there was an INS van waiting at the gate, and as the group came off the plane they were escorted down the stairs to their waiting chariot.

On that same flight we were running late due to crew rest issues, so many of the connections were tight. One lady with a tight connection (not part of the group) stepped from the plane to the jetway and asked the INS agent if he was there to escort her to her next flight :D They weren't headed back to Mexico, Korea would be my guess.

A side note kudo to the UX agent returning the gate checked bags on the jetway. I had about 8 minutes to make my next flight (4 gates up) and while waiting for the bags to come up asked if he would call the gate and let the GA know I was on the ground and would be right there. He radioed the GA, who confirmed she would hold my exit row seat on the RJ. Apologies to any of the standbys waiting and hoping I wasn't going to show :) Otherwise I would have been cooling my jets in the RCC for about 3 hours waiting for the next scheduled LAX-OAK flight.

Do prisoners and guards accrue miles on flights? And if they fly often, do they move up the status ladder? What about upgrades? What happens when prisoner's upgrade clears and guard's not? Are there any UGS amongst them? :rolleyes: :D

FA told me that there was a criminal on board ...
 

Happens in Hawaii on inter-island flights alot. At least on a short flight we don't have to worry about them getting loose when going to the lav. I see them sitting in the gate area off to the side with their prisoner all shackled and hand cuffed.