Nigerians are attacking Detroit!

[Ralphy]

Napolitano will be gone!

[Wayne Maybury]

I find it most interesting that the Israelis place so much emphasis on eye contact while our airport security people rarely even look us in the eye. They want to see our boarding pass, they want us to remove our shoes, only carry-on a small plastic bag of creams, liquids, & gels, place our lap top in a plastic bin by itself, etc, etc. They stare at that X-ray screen and wave their metal detecting devices up & down our bodies, but they never look us in the eye after asking us a question even though this is a proven successful method being employed by Israel for years.

Wayne

[Excaliber]

I suspect that would work better in Israel, eye contact, than here. For one Israel is a much smaller place so the screeners can be picked up and trained with more precision. Eye contact has got to be an art as much as a science, a gut feeling in the end. Like Special Forces, not everyone is going to be able to do it effectively.

Here we have such a large number of screeners it may not be possible for us to incorporate that idea on a large scale with relative success.

[Ron61]

Also comes the problem of screening flights in other countries that are heading here. We really have no control over that and from todays news, it seems there is a huge mess trying to get some system that is workable and somewhat the same in all countries. But there is no way to catch or stop all terrorists. We have to many living right here in this country that are ready to commit acts of terrorism when they are told to do so.

Ron

[Ralphy]

Man threatening Jews hauled off flight in Miami

"I'm Palestinian and I want (to) kill all Jews," he said, according to witnesses.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNN...0100107?rpc=44

[Wayne Maybury]

Hopefully he will be placed on the "no fly" list.

I don't have to fly this week or next but I'm not looking forward to the security lineups on January 19th which will be my first flight since these new measures came into effect. A 45 minute flight (45 min actually in the air) will now take more than 3 hours. When you add in the time it takes to get to the airport, etc, it is more like 4 hours. I am beginning to seriously consider driving or taking the train instead of flying.

Wayne

[Ralphy]

Ernie parks the Unicorn for the long haul. Then gets sent home!

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world...er-268729.html

[Bobcat]

My rule of thumb when flying was to find out what the portal to portal time was for driving and flying and if it was equal or less for driving , that`s what I did . I added my driving time from home to airport , check in time , actual flying time , layovers etc to make my decision . It was actually the same time to fly from Augusta , GA to Richmond , VA as it was to drive .... approx. 7 hours , and I still had to rent a car when I got there ! And that was before all the new security BS .... and cheaper for the company to boot , plus if my schedule changed , I wasn`t captive to a non refundable , no change ticket .

Bob

[Wayne Maybury]

Bob

One reason that I would not drive the odd time was that I wanted to maintain my frequent flyer status with the airline. I didn't want to end up just a few flights short then lose it. However, due to travel reductions by our company this past year, I have lost my "Elite" status so that incentive is no longer part of the equation. With the additional airport security BS, it will now be a toss up whether I fly, drive or take the train on many occasions.

By the way, there was an article in the paper this morning in which a female passenger on that flight to Detroit stated that she observed the suspected terrorist acting very strangely before they boarded the aircraft in Amsterdam. She said he appeared to be very, very nervous and was shaking, etc. At the time, she thought that he would not be allowed to board because he was acting so strangely. She ended up being seated just a couple of rows away from him and help put water on him after he set himself on fire. This again points to the way Israel handles airport security.

Wayne

[HI Cobra]

I just flew out of Houston to return to Hawaii and had no issues with the
security. They were actually far nicer and more efficient than the norm
here in Honolulu. I have titanium shoulder and knee joints so get the "male
assist" every time I walk through the gate. It was a nice surprise.