A United Airlines flight from Atlanta to San Francisco was diverted to Dallas after finding an unclaimed Blackberry on board. According to a TSA spokesman, it was diverted “out of an abundance of caution.” In simple layman’s terms…that is called overreacting.
Authorities didn’t send military fighter aircraft to escort the plane down, as the Associated Press reports, and the passengers were rescreened in Dallas before the flight, United 351, was allowed to continue to San Francisco.
It is nice that the authorities are finally starting to realize they may be diverting planes for an abundance of nothing.
No one is going to make the decision to divert a plane lightly. The expense and complications of the decision are balanced against the possible ramifications of NOT diverting. Hindsight is wonderful when reviewing whether or not the right call was made — but we don’t have that luxury when we’re up in the air. You gather all the data that you have, and make the best decision based on what’s known.
We agree that thought is put into these decisions…but no security or airline official has explained how unclaimed bottles of water and lost Blackberries seem threatening enough to justify this.
Scouring the news, we are surprised that none of these individuals have tried to explain to us as the public why such things are taken that seriously.
We fear that each small step we take is a step in a direction of extremes and that the policies themselves are inconsistent and inconsistently applied.
We do agree that hindsight is 20/20…but there has to be a better solution than assuming every misplace water bottle is malicious.
I agree that some of the “policies” have gone overboard, and application is totally inconsistent. As a crew member I experience the same stuff and the same frustration.
I’m guessing that there was heightened anxiety because of the timing of this event. I would also guess that the entire reasoning of the decision will never be made public. I’m okay with that — as to do so may give away security information.
As a crew member who is faced with making, or providing input into the making of, tough decisions, I tend give the benefit of the doubt to the crew. Trust me — they don’t want to divert if there are other options available.