Legal Commentary

Flying Without an Overcoat a Sign of Terrorism?

By Jeralyn

Will flying without an overcoat be the next item to place you on the terrorism watch list?

The would-be Christmas Day bomber boarded his flight in Amsterdam to frigid Detroit with no coat — perhaps the final warning sign that went unnoticed leading up to what could have been a catastrophic terrorist attack, lawmakers were told.

..."He was flying into Detroit without a coat. That's interesting if you've ever been in Detroit in December," New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said after a briefing by presidential counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.

How will they distinguish between someone who originated their trip in a cold climate, flew to warm climate and then was on their way back to the cold? When I've flown home to Colorado in the winter from a warm climate, I don't have a coat with me. I've either left one in the car I parked at the airport or asked the person picking me up to bring it. Who wants to schlep a winter coat to the tropics?

As for not having luggage, many people (including me) ship it via Fedex ahead of time. [More...] United Airlines has an easy feature on their website where for $79., Fedex will come to your house or office, pick up your suitcase and deliver it to your hotel or other place in the destination city. Considering the airlines charge $25.00 or more to check the bag, and the requirement that you have to check it 45 minutes ahead of departure, the extra $50 is well worth it.

It's even more worth it if you are flying with two tickets, one to a stopover city and one from the stopover city to your destination. If they are on different airlines, you can't check your baggage all the way through, but have to go out to baggage claim and pick it up when you get to the stopover city, then shelp to the other airline, stand in line to recheck it, go back through security again, and then board the second flight. Shipping ahead via Fedex avoids all that.

Singling out people without coats based on climate of the destination city, or lack of luggage for intrusive searches is just another waste of resources that misses the forest for the trees.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 14, 2010 (boomark / email).