Judge makes a wrong decision!

[safety stud]

Since 9/11, our industry has gone through a huge metamorphisis. Our procedures for dealing with possible security threats have changed, and in my opinion are for the better. A judge is set to award an AA pax damages close to the amount of $440,000.00. I don't know the complete details of this incident, however, listening to the reports, the cabin crew and cockpit crew acted in unison to stop a possible security threat. The "racial profiling" that supposedly took place according to the judge is a slap in the face of all airline employee's.

It is the job of all flight attendants to be aware of your surroundings and passenger concerns. If you or a passenger were to witness something out of the ordinary it is your responsibility to inform the captain to make a determination as to what to do next. This is the chain of command that hasn't changed in the 25 years, I have been a flight attendant. This is nothing new since 9/11.

In my opinion, this judge will now set an example to all passengers, that they can now take their case to a jury and posssibly become rich as well. The federal government needs to set guidelines... Black and White guidelines... stating exactly what could happen to you if you are removed, as a possible security threat.

Will C/O's be less likely to throw off a passenger now? Will the procedures in place change, because now the airline can be sued? Folk's, 9/11 happened... The total airline industry has changed. I hope this judgement will not change us.

 

[Bear96]

If the judge was only enforcing an existing law, his decision is not "wrong," and your beef is with the law, not the judge.

 

[FA Mikey]

From the Boston Hearld

In what’s being hailed as a landmark post-9/11 verdict, a Boston jury has ordered American Airlines [AMR] to pay a computer consultant $400,000 for suspecting him of being a Middle Eastern terrorist.
“They thought they could walk into that courtroom and say, ‘Security! Security!’ and make themselves above the law. The jury said they couldn’t,” John Cerqueira, 39, born in Portugal and raised in Fall River, said yesterday from his home in Miami.

While other alleged victims of racial profiling have struck out-of-court deals, Boston attorney David Godkin said Cerqueira’s civil rights case is the first of its kind since Sept. 11, 2001, to reach trial.


Godkin posed the following question to jurors: “Imagine if our client had been a middle-aged blond woman. Would the same thing have happened?”
State police removed Cerqueira from Florida-bound Flight 2237 on Dec. 28, 2003, along with two Israeli men seated next to him in coach, because they were frightening the flight crew preparing for takeoff from Logan International Airport.

An incident report from the event signed by AA Capt. John Ehlers, which the Herald obtained yesterday, explains, “3 PAX (passengers) sitting in row 20 (seats) DEF observed by F/As (flight attendants) & cockpit crew as making inappropriate, suspicious comments in boarding area & on board aircraft. Seemed to be foreign nationals. Overheard wishing other PAX ‘Happy New Year.’ ”
Cerqueira - who was released after two hours of questioning, but refused alternative travel accommodations by American - said his seatmates were “loud” and slipping in and out of English, but, “I had never met them before. All I did was go to the bathroom, use my computer and fall asleep.”

The reason he was awareded money damages is because it was a complete over reaction by the crew. They are not trained to, but too many FA's and pilots believe they can spot a terrorist just by looking at them.

 

[eolesen]

I like the misleading title of this thread... "the JUDGE did it"

Yet the article posted above clearly states that it was a jury trial:

In what’s being hailed as a landmark post-9/11 verdict, a Boston jury has ordered American Airlines [AMR] to pay a computer consultant $400,000 for suspecting him of being a Middle Eastern terrorist.

Then again, it's a Boston jury, and they keep electing pacifist fools like Kerry and Kennedy, so it's bound to be overturned on appeal.

 

[Ed Norton]

Then again, it's a Boston jury, and they keep electing pacifist fools like Kerry and Kennedy, so it's bound to be overturned on appeal.

Pacifist fool Kerry is a member of Skull and Bones, as is W. Bush(Daddy Bush is also). Pacifist fool Kerry is also a long time member of the Council on Forieign Relations [(CFR)(as was daddy Bush)]. Pacifist fool Kennedy is a member of the CFR, along with Dick Cheney.
The only fools are the sleeping American people who blindly believe the false left vs. right paradigm. Truth is both parties are controlled by the CFR, and our next president(unless we somehow elect Ron Paul) will be selected by the CFR.
Don't belive me, research it yourself. You may have to rely on other sources besides FOX News or CNN.

Dr. Carroll Quigley, CFR member, college mentor of President Clinton and author of Tragedy and Hope, identified the Council on Foreign Relations as a joint venture of the private sector with the objective of controlling government:
"... the powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences."
:down: :down:

Look out! That brown skinned pax. could be AL-CIA-DA!!

 

[FWAAA]

The reason he was awareded money damages is because it was a complete over reaction by the crew. They are not trained to, but too many FA's and pilots believe they can spot a terrorist just by looking at them.

Exactly.

Vigilance? Sure. Good idea.

Paranoid, delusional over-reactions like this? Not a good thing.

"Better safe than sorry?" The new mantra of pathetic, cowardly losers, not true professionals.

When a crewmember has a real evidence that someone wants to explode a bomb or breach the flight deck, further investigation is warranted. But loud talking and wishing fellow pax "Happy new year" on Dec 28, a few days prior to Dec 31?

Only pathetic, cowardly losers would interpret THAT as indicia of terrorists.

I wish fellow pax "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year" (or some combination of those) from about 12/15 thru 1/05 or so. But I'm safe from delusional, paranoid fantasy over-reactions because I don't happen to look like I'm from the middle east.

I don't always agree with FA Mikey or Bob Owens on a variety of issues, but on this issue I tend to agree with their posts. I consider both to possess the wisdom and training to call them "aviation professionals." It's too bad AA employs others who aren't as smart.

Even worse, it's too bad that the OP's attitudes are shared by the losers in the ranks of airport police and sky marshals (members of both groups tend to see a lot more terrorist suspects than is rational). If your sole reason for being is to spot very rare terrorists, it's all too likely you'll over-spot them.