Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:
At 07:51 PM 9/12/2001 -0400, David Lesher wrote:
E-tickets are history, per NPR...
Why? Who cares if they mail you a paper ticket, as long as you are checked for weapons before getting on the plane? And if they are worried about ID, mailing you a paper ticket will not help, ID will still have to be checked at the airport.
This is getting silly. They are talking about removing all the plastic knives for "security". What's next? No pens? (You might stab someone.) And certainly no laptops! (You might bash the pilot over the head.) And I hope you like eating soup & jello, since you cannot have forks. (You might stick someone in the eye.)
Grrrr. US Airport security was a joke, and we all knew it. Please tighten it, but do not be ridiculous about it.
Other countries seem to let people fly without these pathetic rules. Perhaps we should ask them instead of making up silly rules.
Il-Al, the Israeli national airline, has a armed policemen/solder called the "cowboy" on all flights. We used to have Air Marshals on domestic flights but the FAA scaled back to only having some Sky Marshals on international flights. People are talking about separate entrances for the pilots and other solutions that would need a total redesign of the airplane... What's so hard about putting the Air Marshals back on domestic flights again? Hell, what's so hard about giving the *pilot* a frigging gun in a lock box? If the lock box gets opened--the plane's transponder starts sending a sos out. Two birds with one stone... That still does not fix the real problem: What do you do with people who want to destroy the West and are willing to kill everybody including themselves to do it...??? /herb