been listening to these on the radio all morning. its pathetic. This is in no way meant as an offensive comment to the US as i love the place, but the government and their security have completely crossed the line and have lost it. BA have already said they wont be enforcing the toilet rule. As for passports requiring fingerprints, this is what we get for supporting the US last year.
I am now seriously reconsidering going to college there, and no doubt visitor numbers to the US are going to drop big time.

You can only do so much prevention, the rest is take it as it comes...

I feel that this is sadly paranoia and isolationism at its worst. America will come through I'm sure, but I think sadly it will suffer first, as this will all but destroy international tourism to the USA, and America will feel the hit to the economy from lost revenue and jobs . However at least all our Americans chums here know the score, and hey they can come to Europe without this silliness and have great holidays Visit places that are older than their country in modern historical terms
If anyone fancies visiting Hungary this year then do so before the end of July, as at the beginning of August I should be a father and will be unavailable for vineyard tours etc If you should turn up in August however, well there'll be a chance for you to earn some dough babysitting

Ozzy

Tough call flyingfez with regard to the firearms on planes issue. Personally I think its more of a hazard, I mean actually having loaded weapons on board a plane is daft. It gives hijackers another way of getting armed on a flight Also what happens if there is a negligent discharge or a weapons failure leading to a discharge of a round in a cockpit? Hello mother Earth, can we be friends at 500 mph?
Speaking as a former serviceman (and therefore having some knowledge of security, especially on British bases) I feel that most European countries have the right idea that security should be on the ground, and thorough checks done there of both passengers and airport staff. If the proper measures are implimented then there should be minimal danger.
Maybe we should take a leaf out of the El Al (is this the correct spelling for the Israeli carrier?) book. They haven't had a hijack for I something like 30 plus years. Its sad, but alas necessary in these times.

Ozzy

some form of stun gun would work quite well,
That and a few pars of handcuffs. Knock em down, restrain them. just as likely to work as a gun without the danger of smashed windows at altitude. Plus better to have a potential hijacker alive than dead.

lol jumped the gun on spelling:)
stun gun was meant:)
plastic ties cuffs whatever works best

Quote:

A very useful piece of kit. I don't know what they're made of but it certainly ain't plastic.

I totally agree that all the air carriers in the US need to take lessons from El AL.  However, one of my friends made a pilgrimage to Israel last year, and he said that on the El Al  flight there was two armed, uniformed security personell on board sitting at the front of the plane. I also believe that Israel has an air marshall style program where there are plainclothes agents on the aircraft.