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August 19, 2006
Market-Based Profiling

The Daily Mail reports on a flight in Britain that remained on the ground due to the demands of its passengers that two Arabic passengers get ejected. The incident shows that citizens will start imposing their own solutions to flight safety in the absence of demonstrably intelligent security while attempts at attacks continue:

British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed.

The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.

Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes before it was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB 613 in the departure lounge refused to board it.

The incident fuels the row over airport security following the arrest of more than 20 people allegedly planning the suicide-bombing of transatlantic jets from the UK to America. It comes amid growing demands for passenger-profiling and selective security checks.

It also raised fears that more travellers will take the law into their own hands - effectively conducting their own 'passenger profiles'.

These incidents have started to spike in the wake of the successful exposure of a massive plot in the UK against the airlines. British travelers have decided, ironically, that the government has not done enough to screen for terrorists and have lost confidence in air service as a result. This will lead to dramatic market reactions; either people will stop flying, or they will take security into their own hands. The perceived lack of security will make it harder for Muslims to travel (the British reference to "Asians" usually means Pakistanis or Arabs).

After 9/11, every flyer understands that they are targeted by terrorists and have to remain vigilant. This message has been reinforced over and over again by the governments themselves. Common sense dictates that people will act in their perceived self-interest in any case, and that means people will remain highly suspicious of Arabic men traveling together -- and more so when they act strangely. In Malanga, the two wore heavy clothing despite the heat and kept checking their watches. That was enough to make them unwilling to risk a flight with the two men, and they applied the pressure necessary for the airline to eject the two.

Is that fair? Hardly. However, the unwillingness of the governments in both the UK and the US to provide systems of screening that instill confidence in the flying public has led to these incidents. They will continue and increase while screening systems insist on playing political correctness games instead of focusing on real threats as the Israelis have done for decades. As I wrote earlier this week, the US has an experimental program attempting to create a similar system; it should get expedited and expanded as soon as possible.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at August 19, 2006 11:38 PM

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» Market-Based Profiling from Old War Dogs
The Daily Mail reports on a flight in Britain that remained on the ground due to the demands of its passengers that two Arabic passengers get ejected. The incident shows that citizens will start imposing their own solutions to flight [Read More]

Tracked on August 20, 2006 1:30 AM

» Jet Passenger "Mutiny" a "Victory for Terrorists?" -- No, A Victory for Common Sense from GINA COBB
The U.K. Daily Mail reports that passengers on a flight from Malaga, Spain to Manchester, U.K. refused to take off until two scruffy-looking Asian men wearing inappropriately heavy coats, and who were speaking what the passengers assumed to be Arabic, ... [Read More]

Tracked on August 20, 2006 1:48 AM

» Passengers Refuse to Fly with “Asians” On Board from Strategic Outlook Institute - Weblog
From the UK comes this piece today - Passengers refuse to fly until Asians are removed. Understand that in the UK, Asians generally refers to those who are Middle Eastern. British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow th... [Read More]

Tracked on August 20, 2006 5:45 AM

» Flight 613 Mutiny from Sister Toldjah
Passengers are conducting their own profiling where their governments won’t: British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed. The e... [Read More]

Tracked on August 20, 2006 7:45 AM

» Is it any wonder from Find The Boots
No, really, until people have reasonable confidence in airport security being, you know, real instead of "correct" this sort of thing is going to continue to happen: [Read More]

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» The West's Dissociative States from ShrinkWrapped
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Tracked on August 21, 2006 1:19 PM

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