From: Charlie Stross (charlie@antipope.org)
Date: Tue Sep 18 2001 - 04:40:33 MDT
On Mon, Sep 17, 2001 at 11:08:32PM -0700, Fred C. Moulton wrote:
> I suggest that you have your explanation ready for the security who show
> up. I am not sure about the new FAA regulations but in some places
> there must be a matchup of luggage to passengers; so if someone leaves
> the plane they have to unload the luggage and sort it all out.
This has been SOP on all British flights -- including domestic ones --
for many years, now: the plane doesn't fly unless every suitcase in
the hold has a corresponding passenger in the cabin. Try leaving a
flight at the last minute and the airline will probably sue you for the
cost of a lost take-off slot and the idle time costs of an airliner --
which at a busy airport may run into many thousands of dollars.
Other little standard security procedures in force at British airports
for many years _before_ the bombing included metal detector checks,
body searches, random luggage hand-searches, and security guards who act
like professionals. Which is not surprising, as they're paid for by the
airport authority, which would be held liable and sued by the airlines
in event of a hijacking. There is no 'airline security' as such, just
airport security -- which is held to a much higher standard and is not
subject to direct cost-cutting pressures due to competition with other
airlines.
The idea is to view security as being an infrastructure function, not a
bolt-on afterthought added by the carrier. But then, the UK has had to
learn how to deal with a low-level terrorist threat over many years;
nobody wanted to see the IRA get into the hijacking game, and Heathrow
has been repeatedly targeted by middle eastern hijackers.
-- Charlie
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