Hi Jim,

You wrote:

"Did we immediately fear the presence of all white men after we learned that Timothy McVeigh had bombed the Murah building in Oklahoma City? I doubt that many of us did."

Apples and Oranges my friend. There weren't 19 (or more) McVeighs involved in a coordinated attack in multiple locations, and if there had been 19 McVeighs, I'm sure people would have been apprehensive about traveling cross country with someone who looked like McVeigh if their mode of transportation was hitching a ride on a Ryder truck.

"If any pilot or other flight crew is "uncomfortable" with any passenger or "don't feel safe flying with them", they should turn the flight over to other airline employees rather than refusing service to the passengers. If it was up to me, the flight personnel involved in these incidents would be terminated."

Do you really think that we want to take pilots and other airline personnel out of the loop of airline security? I don't.

The examples in the article that Pete posted don't go into enough detail for us to render any firm judgement as to whether the actions taken were black and white right or wrong. The Egyptian who was removed from a flight from Tampa to Cairo. He most certainly wasn't the only Arab American aboard that plane. The 3 Iraqi brothers who weren't allowed to board the plane in Minnesota. We don't know if they were acting suspiciously or not.

"As for other passengers objecting, THEY should have been offered the alternative of either flying in spite of their concerns or taking a different flight. There is no justification for the removal of any innocent person from any aircraft because of the "fears" of others."

Would it be prudent to fly a 757 with one passenger on it?

...I travel a lot. The only thing that is going to change my travel habits is the reduction of flights. I'll be spending more time away from home than I used to. I don't like it, but I'll live with it.

Bob