Travellers stewing in huge lineups at Pearson International Airport are warning of “absolute bedlam” as heightened security has dramatically slowed down travel on the airport’s busiest day.
Jack Gardiner waited in line for hours in Terminal One only to find his family’s Air Canada flight to New York was cancelled. Rather than rebook him, airline staff handed him a 1-800 toll free number and told him to do it himself.
“It’s absolute bedlam in here,” Gardiner said. “And in true Canadian fashion, no one is coming and telling you what’s going on, whose doing what, what your expectations are.
“We’re going to go home and drive. We’ll take our chances that way.”
[More]
Related:
Security fears jam Pearson airport
Updates:
1:19 pm EST, December 29th, 2009 — Napolitano concedes airline security system failed
1:32 pm EST, December 29th, 2009 — Congestion easing at Canada’s airports
1:37 pm EST, December 29th, 2009 — Terror fears, security clampdown hit airlines
2:28 pm EST, December 29th, 2009 — Sharp-dressed man aided terror suspect
2:33 pm EST, December 29th, 2009 — FBI: Man Flew Into LaGuardia With Firecracker
4:14 pm EST, December 29th, 2009 — There are many more like me
Best Guess (Thanks to StageLeft)
Notes:
It would appear that is the most interesting entry I’ve put up today. Enjoy and reply. It’s a good discussion.
Why anyone in their right mind who has a choice, would put themselves, and/or their families, through the complete and utter stupidity that is encompassed within new American flight regulations is beyond me.
This idiocy will be more than enough to see many rebooking flights to some place where the book on their lap, the iPod they’re listening to, the portable DVD player they’re watching a movie on, or the toy their child is playing with, aren’t deemed potential terrorist threats.
I have a friend who was caught out of the country when these regulations came into effect and who will be flying into the US on the way home in a few days – a 6 hour overseas flight with two young children that’s going to be significantly impacted by the ‘for your comfort and safety please put everything away, stow your carry on luggage securely under the seat in front of you, place your hands on your lap, and stare straight ahead for the next 60 minutes – for your added security no pee breaks are allowed until you are safely inside the terminal building, and then, only in a designated area‘ announcement.
It is amazing how little the enemy has to do to provoke such a huge response and cause so much disruption to our western societies. I guess that is why it is called terrorism. On a cost analysis basis their return on investment is what? 1,000,000 %. We need to adopt the ElAl model of screening passengers.
mid island mike
Daughter No 1 and I had a conversation abut this problem the other evening. It was hot and heavy for a few minutes.
“They can’t do that” she said.
“Oh yes they can” I said.
While it is known that governments cannot order airlines to refuse to fly muslims the same cannot be said for the executive boards of the airlines concerned and that is where I see this all going. My reasoning is that your local friendly muslim (who has done nothing) is well aware of the people within the local mosque who can cause trouble. They don’t want to get involved and they won’t until they are seriously inconvenienced. Like the remainder of people who fly THEY ARE AFRAID of these fruitcakes and they have good reason.
My view is that if they begin to find they have to walk, take a train or a ship they are going to be seriously pissed off and all that is required then is a Crimestoppers number they can call and the bullshit will cease as they turn the idiots in.
Point: While a government may not be able to give the order, I think the executive board of an airline can — “No muslims on board. End of message.”
Likely, I’m all wrong but sitting up here in the peanut gallery I’m thinking it so why not say it?
Any airline that did that better start giving out vouchers at CCC and Aryan Nations meetings because their long term audience won’t span far beyond that. As I asked MaryT, how will the airline identify each of the 1 billion Muslims on this planet. Turns out they don’t all look like Osama bin Laden.
We in the west sure talk a lot of sh*t about individual rights and freedoms but the second the “other” scares us all that crap goes right out the window. Today it’s the Muslims, yesterday the Japanese. A few attacks and we’re ready to convert ourselves into South Africa. Will that really stop terrorism? Be honest.
@Jack: re: Like the remainder of people who fly THEY ARE AFRAID of these fruitcakes…
I fly regularly, in fact I plan to fly tomorrow, and I will fly the day after that as well, and I am not (ALL CAPS) afraid.
Re: My view is that if they begin to find they have to walk, take a train or a ship they are going to be seriously pissed off and all that is required then is a Crimestoppers number they can call and the bullshit will cease as they turn the idiots in.
Ah yes…. the good old “collective punishment” idea – it’s been the hallmark of enlightened and civilized societies all through history hasn’t it? Shall we start a list of all the good things that have come out of that philosophy in our history… maybe starting with the first Europeans that landed on North American shores – we’re proud of that aren’t we? Japanese concentration camps and forced labour – don’t it just make your heart swell with patriotic pride?
Re: “No muslims on board. End of message.”
And just how are you going to make that work Jack, demand proof of non-Muslimness at check-in? Force all professed Muslims wear a bright yellow crescent arm band so they can be easily identified as potential dangers to the state…. or at the very least passive collaborators?
Re: #4 — “Be honest.”
I am.
Do you have a better solution before the motoring public decides to take a bus?
How do we convince people to fly when these “yardbirds” keep managing to get on an aircraft with us? I don’t know and I suspect nobody else does either other than banning them from flight.
The other choice is nobody flies if they want to live. That’s the problem as I see it and the only solution I can see.
If you come from a muslim country “you walk” unless muslims start turning these idiots in.
Do you have a better solution before the motoring public decides to take a bus?
Beef up scanning machines. We have the technology to scan humans right down to the skin. Since Americans have no issues with every other invasion of their privacy via the patriot act, there shouldn’t be too much issue with a couple of Homeland Security goons seeing them in their birthday suits. It sill be much harder to smuggle terrorist items (or anything else) onto a plane and the wait times won’t increase dramatically.
Also, this terrorist hysteria is always rooted in what’s already happened. Seen any planes flying into buildings lately? The terrorists have a bazillion ways to get at a large, democratic nation. If they don’t have any ideas, they can borrow some from the Tamil Tigers or the IRA – neither of which attack planes.
The purpose of terrorism is to install fear, and every time you or anyone else resorts to hysteria and attack innocent people with “similar” demographic traits you are playing directly into the terrorists’ hands. Every security lockdown makes the west look a little less like the west and a little more like a Middle Eastern theocracy.
Re: #5 — “And just how are you going to make that work Jack, demand proof of non-Muslimness at check-in? Force all professed Muslims wear a bright yellow crescent arm band so they can be easily identified as potential dangers to the state…. or at the very least passive collaborators?”
Don’t know, StageLeft. Daughter and I discussed that problem also. I’ll leave it for the “high muckey mucks” to resolve but I will say this. If it was my airline that was losing business because of this situation I would be deep in thought about muslims and our “war on terror” and whether I wanted to carry them or not.
The point is…99.9% of muslims cause no problems and do well in western countries. It’s the .01% who concern me and the short story is most muslims know what is going on locally in their community and they know who the “bad asses” are.
But they refuse to get involved, don’t they? Oh yes, there are a few who do the right thing but most of them remain silent.
So my view is “they can walk” until they get the message and start to help us to win this war.
Re: #7 — “Beef up scanning machines. We have the technology to scan humans right down to the skin. “
True enough but what if they’re carrying this stuff up their butt?
Our prisons are famous for it.
I should add that I am not attacking a particular demographic. I am asking for help and the only people who can reverse this process are the people who practice the “religion” concerned.
So far — mostly silence.
@Jack re: Don’t know, StageLeft. Daughter and I discussed that problem also. I’ll leave it for the “high muckey mucks” to resolve ……
They’ll tell you, and everyone else who is floating the same unworkable idea, the same thing Jack – it’s unworkable, which means it’s a non-solution.
Re: If it was my airline that was losing business because of this situation…
The last I heard airlines were not losing money because of threats of terrorism. They will however will lose money as people look at unreasonable US security regulations and come to the very reasonable conclusion that America is simply not an attractive destination because of them. Pat down searches of each and every passenger boarding the plane? Multiple security checks? No books or iPods in the last hour of flight? No bathroom in the last hour of flight? I read just last evening that pillows and blankets are going to be collected in that last hour of the flight – who in their right mind is going to put up with that unless they absolutely have to?
Let me answer that with a couple of cut ‘ pastes from the comments at my place
Or how about
I haven’t been to the states for years because of their paranoia, it’s simply not worth the hassle anymore, and I’m no where near alone in that thinking.
The Israelis seem to have an effective system based on ” behavioural ” profiling, not ethnic or religious based, although I am pretty sure they use some common sense in looking a little more closely at Muslim 20 to 30 year old males than 85 year old Swedish grandmothers: There should be a reasonable and just compromise between the politically correct blindness of not using common sense in deciding who should get a second look and going crazy treating every darkskined person ( not all Muslims look Muslim in a stereotypical way ) a likely threat ? Oh, and treating everyone equally by making everyone equally suspect ( miserable ) and subject them to the maximum level of intrusive ” security ” measures !
What we get instead are massive over reactions with little chance of being useful like forbidding trips to the toilet during the last hour of a flight: Who are the geniuses who come up with these things as the best thing to do ?
So I’m closer to Cynapses on this than I usually am but at the same time I am for ” intelligent ” profiling as long as it doesn’t degenerate into abusive profiling but the danger is that badly trained low paid security people have difficulties with being subtle and some get off on the power trip of being able to bully people.
The electronic scanning is less invasive than ” touchy-feely ” pat downs but as Jack mentioned stuff up the butt is hard to check for ! I guess rubber gloves are the next big thing in security supplies ! ( maybe I should by stock in rubber glove makers ….. LOL ).
Easier to say what doesn’t work or is plainly stupid or abusive than coming up with an solution assuming that there is a solution ? No 100% effective solutions should be expected.
Jack’s point that if the majority of Muslims in our society are on our side they should show it or risk deserving some blame if they don’t help identify the wingnuts among them. ( they do have a justified fear of the wingnuts so much of this ” denouncing ” may have to be done anonimously for their individual safety ).
Re: #10 — I agree with you. I refuse to apply for a Canadian passport simply because somebody has told me I have to. Canada is a huge country and I don’t have to visit the states for a holiday. There’s much to explore right here at home.
Re: #11 — Crimestoppers works for me. The courts recognize the program — the “informant” will never be identified or called to court and yet the information gets to the people who can do something with it.
There’s even a “reward” (and a special program for that) so there is a few bucks to be made.
People can check it out.
Make EL AL your airline of choice ! Security checks,profiles,scanners,air marshalls,etc.When it comes to my life I don’t give a sh*t if some leftist jihadist apologists think some fellow traveller in debating circles might be offended.There were no deaths this time ,but that as we all know is just a matter of time.
Re: #14 — I’m far from certain that El Al is the solution to our travel nightmare but I am getting really tired of Americans acting like a bunch of weiners since “911″.
I know it’s a difficult problem and Cynapse is really upset with my idea but the simple solution is to ban muslims (most can be identified) from flights.
Otherwise, bankruptcy looms for airlines.
We didn’t make the problem — they did.
We don’t have to fix the problem — they do.
You can take it to the bank.
@greyburr: you tell ‘em buddy – backscatter x-ray scans for all…. your grandmother digitally strip searched for my protection and safety !!
(do I really need to end that with the /sarcasm tag?)
Stage leftie,no my protection,I could care less about you and yours.As for granny she won’t mind ,yours wouldn’t either as it would just be another day at the vets.Bubble.
@Jack: The “simple solution” that you don’t know how to make work? Just how would these “identifiable” Muslims be identified? Is there a defining Muslim characteristic?
@greyburr: I’ve always been immune from the petty insults of your sort — I’ll add “considers the ancestors of people who disagree with them as animals” to my list of compassionate conservative identifiers courtesy of you.
Re: #18 –”Is there a defining Muslim characteristic?”
No, unless you consider the country they call home.
I feel like I’m having “deja vu” here. I think I’ve said this before.
Stage leftie,no my protection,I could care less about you and yours
Something you have in common with the Islamists. No wonder you sound so similar. No measure too extreme to sooth the paranoid mind…
I know it’s a difficult problem and Cynapse is really upset with my idea but the simple solution is to ban muslims (most can be identified) from flights.
You would expect a member of one of North America’s two traditional whipping-boy races to support the latest apartheid? Sorry, but there’s a lot to be said for old children’s stories, and North Americans have s-listed too many groups to get a pass on this “one time, short term measure”.
Listen to greyburr – it’s all about his convenience and he doesn’t care what civil rights violations take place to facilitate it. That’s the attitude in which North Americans have traditionally operated the Middle East, which is at least part of the reason why very few regular Muslims are putting their necks on the line to protect Western sanctity. In the meantime, you can buy yourself some short-term solace by burning down the house to kill a termite and let your children deal with the international fallout. After all, that’s what your parents did to you.
Re: #20 — Give “Greyburr” a break. He’s new here.
He has to catch up.
Re: #21 — Regarding “newbies”. I am too.
Give me a break.
???
Who’d have more seniority on this site than you????
I don’t see what’s wrong with the scanner. It sure as hell is going to be faster than educating the slack-jawed thugs at the airport the difference between Muslims and Sikhs.
There is no solution to this problem. It’s that simple.
mid island mike
Can anyone imagine the media outrage if Pres Bush had waited 4 days to respond to 9/11.
Think of the abuse he suffered when he told his FEMA guy he was doing a good job.
Why no outrage at the delay from O, or the stupid stmt by that dumb head of something dealing with security. The system worked. Today she changed her story. Bush had to replace his guy but O’s gal gets off with no outrage.
Who was it that predicted that O would face a big challenge within a few months of being sworn in. He has been tested and failed.
Kill the terrorists. Instead of ‘Watch Lists’ of our terrorist neighbours who travel around for training etc. Kill them. Watching them for years waiting until they bring the fight to us is stupid. Kill terrorists.
Cynapse said:
It sure as hell is going to be faster than educating the slack-jawed thugs at the airport the difference between Muslims and Sikhs
I’m sure the Sikhs who work as screeners at YVR are gonna love that comment.
El-Al type screening is probably the only realistic answer. Banning Muslims from flying is simply ludicrous and would never be allowed to happen.
And two more solutions are offered.
@MaryT: Blame Obama…. personally I can’t see how that’s gonna help but I’m open to suggestions.
@Philanthropist: Kill the terrorists…. yup, they’re doing that.
Here’s an idea, how about North America tries not losing its’ collective head and running wildly off into the night chasing shadows. How about reasonable security measures be implemented with the knowledge that we cannot either possibly, or reasonably, prevent every danger that may befall us.
And how about we try learning from things such as the failed bombing, and work at doing things better, instead of giving in to knee jerk impulses like banning either books or pee breaks from the last hour of a flight, or calling for Muslims to be banned from the air.
I understand that those ideas may not be as flashy as Muslim banning or (as some Conservatives have suggested over the last few days) barring Muslim immigration and starting the deportation of all those living here now – but they are certainly more reasonable ideas.
And that, I believe, is the question people need to ask themselves. Are we a reasonable people given to critical thinking and logic – or are we not?
And, in fact (via twitter just now) it seems that reason has prevailed
The latest two terrorist attackers were known to authorities. There were multiple indications that they could become a problem. Wouldnt you think that at the very least both of these people should have been dealt with?
Britain got the same information about the Detroit bomber that the U.S. authorities did. They immediately revoked his visa and he was not allowed into the country. Therefore he could not possibly be on a plane to Britain. The U.S. could have done the same thing if they valued peoples lives more than political correctness.
If a know potential problem is not going to be dealt with, there is no hope for the travelling public, no matter how much silliness they go through at airport screening.
How long before some Acorn or ACLU lawyer files charges against the passengers for assaulting this poor misunderstood man who almost succeeded in carrying out an act of war against the USA.
I wonder how all those saying you can’t do this or that would react if this terrorist had been on a plane they were a passenger in.
Has he produced a passport, guess not so he did get on the plane without one. Who helped him.
I never blamed O for this, just pointed out the difference in coverage in the media.
America needs to go after radical Islamic terrorists wherever they are, whoever they are, without regard to national borders or political connections or Supreme Court decisions or the rules of criminal procedure or any code of Federal Regulations or even the federal holiday schedule. To a certain degree they already are, but they are not going nearly far enough. They need to pull out all the stops and fight to win. If these sick Islamic perverts get their way the world will be a place where its nearly 7 billion ignorant, starving people bow toward Mecca 5 times a day or die.
A country like Russia does not have to worry a fraction as much as America does that it will be targeted by radical Islamists. If it ever did come to pass that radical Islamists decided to go after Russia in a similar fashion then scum like Bin Laden, al-Qaeda, the Islamic Jihad, all those religious fascists know that Russia would hunt them to the ends of the earth and execute them wherever they found them. They would exterminate the whole lot of them to the very last man. No big bombing campaign, no military invasion, no prisoners, no civilian trials, no prison on Russian soil, no political correctness, no press release after it happens. These homicidal terrorist thugs would just all of a sudden cease to exist. The American administration must develop the same mindset if they ever expect to win this war. In order for this to happen though America’s first task needs to be for the POTUS to acknowledge that a state of war, a war between religion and secular society, even exists.
The half life of plutonium is 250,000 years. If one of the these fanatics sets off a dirty bomb in an American city it would be the worst ecological disaster in the history of the world. If these sick creatures ever realize their dream of setting off a real nuke, well Humpty Dumpty will likely never be able to be put back together again. Rome fell to the barbarians when it could no longer protect itself. America better take off the gloves before it is too late.
Chechnya is far from pacified, despite Russian abuses that you would consider orgasmic in their brutality. In fact, there are theories that the Russian level of brutality – which includes destroying entire cities of men, women and children, are making the terrorists even bolder.
Sometimes those who survive wish they were dead, as in Zernovodsk this summer, when townspeople say they were chased on to a field and made to watch women being raped. When their men tried to defend them, 68 of them were handcuffed to an armoured truck and raped too. After this episode, 45 of them joined the guerrillas in the mountains. One older man, Nurdi Dayeyev, who was nearly blind, had nails driven through his hands and feet because it was suspected that he was in contact with the fighters. When relatives later retrieved his remains, he was missing a hand. The relatives of another villager, Aldan Manayev, picked up a torso but no head. The families were forced to sign declarations that Dayeyev and Manayev had blown themselves up.
Recall Chechnya was one of the few places from where fighters went TOWARDS Afghanistan to fight the US shortly after 9/11.
The basic problem is that the “gentlemen” who always think up these toughg-uy approaches think of things that would scare themselves …. with their nice homes, trophy wives and content existence. If you’re a destitute Chechen under one of the most brutal empires in history or a Somali fisherman in a clan-based anarchy, the threat of being blown up instantaneously by some high tech gadgets doesn’t seem nearly so horrible. Triple that if you subscribe to a political philosophy where sacrificing yourself is a good thing.
If their greatest desire is to be with allah in paradise, then we should do everything we can to help them get there.
mid island mike