Friday, January 02, 2009

Defending Freedom, 24/7

The Transportation Security Administration is on the job, detaining and questioning people who discuss, uh, airline safety.

In addition to pulling Mr. Irfan and his family off the plane and causing them to miss their flight, the Feds also yanked the plane's crew and 95 passengers off and forced them yet again through the humiliating exercise in submission known as "passenger screening."

FBI agents cleared the family and asked the airline to put them on another flight. AirTran Airways issued a full refund and told the family they could fly on the carrier again, but refused to book them on a later flight so they could get on with their vacation. AirTran did rebook the family on another airline, but complained that one of the party "became irate and made inappropriate comments" when told they would not be allowed to complete their trip on AirTran (think several more days lost while your luggage gets re-routed). Maybe the airline thinks the family needs some time to think about whether or not they want to think about airline safety. The Feds, suddenly remembering the concept of "private property," say the airline acted within its rights in booking the family on another carrier.

Your tax dollars at work. I'd say I feel safer, but I don't want the FBI knocking at my door to ask why I'm discussing safety.