In recorded announcements at airports, passengers are frequently reminded to report any “suspicious activity.” But what qualifies as suspicious isn’t always clear, as an incident this month illustrates, calling into question the effectiveness of citizen vigilance.
On May 5, aboard a plane about to fly from Philadelphia to Syracuse, a passenger, apparently alarmed by math equations her seatmate was working on, caused its departure to be delayed when she suggested he might be a terrorist. The man turned out to be Guido Menzio, a University of Pennsylvania economics professor working on a differential equation.
The crew of the flight, operated by Air Wisconsin for American Airlines, apparently followed protocol when the woman notified the flight attendant that she was too sick to fly. As she left the plane, according to American Airlines, she mentioned her concerns about her seatmate to a crew member who then met with the captain, an airline security officer and eventually Menzio. The captain determined that he was not a security risk, and the flight departed.
“Anytime we have a dispute or a disagreement or concerns expressed by one passenger about another about safety, the flight crew will do their best to resolve the matter peacefully and quickly,” said Casey Norton, director of corporate communications for American Airlines.
Options include reseating the passengers so they are no longer neighbors, moderating a conversation between them or, as in this case, rebooking on another flight.
The Department of Homeland Security urges awareness of potential threats through a program, begun in 2010, called “If You See Something, Say Something.” It defines suspicious activity as packages or luggage left unattended; an unusual circumstance, like an open door that is usually closed; a person seeking in-depth information on a building’s purpose, security procedures or shift changes; and anyone loitering around a building, taking notes, sketches, photographs or measurements.
On its website, the department notes, “Factors such as race, ethnicity, and/or religious affiliation are not suspicious.” Yet ethnic profiling has resulted in several incidents, including one in which a Southwest Airlines passenger was taken off a flight in April for speaking Arabic.
“This seems to be a case of ‘see something, say something’ getting out of control,” George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, wrote in an email. “If too many passengers cry ‘terrorist’ every time someone looks ‘Middle Eastern’ or has curly hair or is merely having a phone conversation in Arabic and wears a beard, it may lessen the effectiveness of ‘citizen vigilance’ efforts.”
Some fliers have been successful in spotting suspicious behavior and defusing dangerous situations. In each of these situations, the passengers reacted to an immediate and evident threat, including smoke and fire. Short of that, the gray area is vast, and subject to biases about appearance, speech and religion.
“These issues have grown in the last decade as air travel as gotten less fun and more stressful,” Price said. “Passengers on planes are more on edge. They’ve been standing in line for possibly hours and now they’re crammed into a seat with no leg room and given no food. All of this is just a recipe for someone who is already upset and won’t take much more to tip into an argument.”—
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