The Scanner Scam

Please read our privacy policy

Never one to cross the road to avoid an approaching bandwagon UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given the go-ahead for full body scanners to be introduced at Britain's airports. BAA, which runs six UK airports rather badly, said it would now install the machines "as soon as is practical" at Heathrow. Experts have questioned the scanners' effectiveness at detecting the type of bomb allegedly used on Christmas Day in an attempted plane attack over Detroit.

Here's the latest hoop to jump through. Yes, there's a 'professional' that can see all your gadgetry. That part I don't personally mind, but just where is it gonna stop? This is incremental erosion of privacy and freedom, all in the name of the government protecting you.

The £80,000 full body scanners, which produce "naked" images of passengers, remove the need for "pat down" searches. They work by beaming electromagnetic waves on to passengers while they stand in a booth. A virtual three-dimensional image is then created from the reflected energy. Some have voiced concerns about privacy, with campaigners saying they are tantamount to a "strip search".

In the London Evening Standard Tory MP Ben Wallace, who was involved in the testing and development of the technology, warns it was not "the big silver bullet". He said the "passive millimeter wave scanners" probably would not have picked up the failed Detroit airliner plot or the explosives used in the 2005 London bombings.

Mr Wallace (Lancaster & Wyre) was employed by QinetiQ as their overseas director in the security and intelligence division. QinetiQ helped develop the passive millimeter wave technology. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The advantage of the millimeter waves are that they can be used at longer range, they can be quicker and they are harmless to travellers.


Body Scanner

"But there is a big but and the but was all the testing that we undertook, it was unlikely that it would have picked up the current explosive devices being used by al Qaeda. It probably wouldn't have picked up the Detroit Delta Airlines bomb on Christmas Day." He continued: "It probably wouldn't have picked up the very large plot with the liquids in 2006 at Heathrow or indeed the later July bombs that were used on the Tube because it wasn't very good and it wasn't that easy to detect liquids and plastics unless they were very solid plastics.

In the same paper columnist Sam Leith observes; “The political necessity of being seen to do something in the wake of a terror attempt means security rules are always out of sync. We wait for something we know was possible to be attempted, then panic about it. We're like public-health programmes vaccinating against last year's strain of flu.”

Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, said scanners were not the only solution and profiling passengers was, in fact, the best way to prevent terrorist acts. "We've got to face the fact that you can build a bomb in the duty free shop, after you've gone through screening. Bearing that in mind, we need to look at what people's intent is, not what they are carrying on their person."

Altogether with the questions over whether these scanners really work there is the question of knee jerk reactions to yesterday’s problems. The only really effective form of Airport security (ask El Al and the Israeli’s ) is that based on profiling rather than installing expensive equipment and creating nightmare queues for families with children, elderly, disabled and frequent flyers to go through. Of course the big disadvantage of this only proven secure method of protecting planes, airports and passengers is it can’t be carried out by scarcely trained outsourced minimum wage staff?

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO TO SEE WHAT THESE SCANNERS ARE REALLY LIKE

The Scanner Scam

Please read our privacy policy

Never one to cross the road to avoid an approaching bandwagon UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given the go-ahead for full body scanners to be introduced at Britain's airports. BAA, which runs six UK airports rather badly, said it would now install the machines "as soon as is practical" at Heathrow. Experts have questioned the scanners' effectiveness at detecting the type of bomb allegedly used on Christmas Day in an attempted plane attack over Detroit.

Here's the latest hoop to jump through. Yes, there's a 'professional' that can see all your gadgetry. That part I don't personally mind, but just where is it gonna stop? This is incremental erosion of privacy and freedom, all in the name of the government protecting you.

The £80,000 full body scanners, which produce "naked" images of passengers, remove the need for "pat down" searches. They work by beaming electromagnetic waves on to passengers while they stand in a booth. A virtual three-dimensional image is then created from the reflected energy. Some have voiced concerns about privacy, with campaigners saying they are tantamount to a "strip search".

In the London Evening Standard Tory MP Ben Wallace, who was involved in the testing and development of the technology, warns it was not "the big silver bullet". He said the "passive millimeter wave scanners" probably would not have picked up the failed Detroit airliner plot or the explosives used in the 2005 London bombings.

Mr Wallace (Lancaster & Wyre) was employed by QinetiQ as their overseas director in the security and intelligence division. QinetiQ helped develop the passive millimeter wave technology. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The advantage of the millimeter waves are that they can be used at longer range, they can be quicker and they are harmless to travellers.


Body Scanner

"But there is a big but and the but was all the testing that we undertook, it was unlikely that it would have picked up the current explosive devices being used by al Qaeda. It probably wouldn't have picked up the Detroit Delta Airlines bomb on Christmas Day." He continued: "It probably wouldn't have picked up the very large plot with the liquids in 2006 at Heathrow or indeed the later July bombs that were used on the Tube because it wasn't very good and it wasn't that easy to detect liquids and plastics unless they were very solid plastics.

In the same paper columnist Sam Leith observes; “The political necessity of being seen to do something in the wake of a terror attempt means security rules are always out of sync. We wait for something we know was possible to be attempted, then panic about it. We're like public-health programmes vaccinating against last year's strain of flu.”

Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, said scanners were not the only solution and profiling passengers was, in fact, the best way to prevent terrorist acts. "We've got to face the fact that you can build a bomb in the duty free shop, after you've gone through screening. Bearing that in mind, we need to look at what people's intent is, not what they are carrying on their person."

Altogether with the questions over whether these scanners really work there is the question of knee jerk reactions to yesterday’s problems. The only really effective form of Airport security (ask El Al and the Israeli’s ) is that based on profiling rather than installing expensive equipment and creating nightmare queues for families with children, elderly, disabled and frequent flyers to go through. Of course the big disadvantage of this only proven secure method of protecting planes, airports and passengers is it can’t be carried out by scarcely trained outsourced minimum wage staff?

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO TO SEE WHAT THESE SCANNERS ARE REALLY LIKE

(U)Ryanair

The Mouth of the West

Checking into Ryanair Flight FR118 at Dublin to London Gatwick the other evening I noticed a familiar face in the security line in front of me at Dublin Airport. It was none other than Michael O’Leary the outspoken Chief Executive of Ryanair, widely known as “The Mouth of the West” in Ireland. I asked him where the bodyguard was and he smiled and said he could look after himself. I don’t doubt it and there he was going through the ordinary line in jeans, check shirt and leather jacket having his luggage x-rayed with all the other passengers. The flight to London he was on (he sat in the front row and was first off the plane) had a number of innovations, namely it was enabled for mobile use in the air at “only” £3.00 a minute and you could get a “Ryanair Flame Grilled Cheese Burger” for only 9 euros. Strangely I resisted both temptations and the Sage’s zero purchase on Ryanair policy was maintained.

Now Ryanair gets a lot of knocking copy (sometimes from me) but those of us with longer memories remember what a restrictive cartel European air travel was before Ryanair. BA and Aer Lingus operated a cartel on the Dublin / London route and charged £230 return for a trip 20 years ago. Cheap fares could only be bought with stupid restrictions like being re-endorsed by a travel agent (What! Why!) for the return leg which led to British Airways stranding me in Dublin for 3 days and don’t even get me started on how exploitive Aer Lingus was with its so called “Compassionate air fares” designed to "help" customers travelling for bereavements or family emergencies. I remember in 1987 when Dublin / Oslo cost £564 (£2,000 in today’s terms) and Dublin / Geneva cost £380 in 1976. What a contrast when In 1999 I flew London / Lubeck for £5.00 return all in and laughed when I saw Ryanair fly in with a plane with “Aufwiedershen Lufthansa” on the side. Well, nobody is laughing today as Ryanair is the biggest and most profitable European airline with 170 Boeing 737-800’s in the air.

So I do admire what Michael O’Leary has achieved and his simplification of the business model and operation will be thought to Business Course drones for many years to come, no doubt to O’Leary’s great amusement. However Michael has the same problem as Oliver Cromwell had in Ireland, he doesn’t explain his mission too well and sometimes he revels in going too far. For the next morning he was at it again, pissing off his customers, if you’ll excuse the pun; “One thing we’ve looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting in a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in the future,” Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said in a televised interview with the BBC. His comments were confirmed by the carrier.



Ryanair may charge passengers to use toilets on its planes, adding to fees already imposed for beverages, stowed baggage, airport check-in and preferential boarding. Ryanair generates about 20 percent of revenue from so-called ancillary income, the money it makes aside from ticket sales. The Dublin-based company this month introduced technology allowing passengers to use their own mobile phones on aircraft.

Mr O'Leary said this would not inconvenience passengers travelling without cash. "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound," he added. "We're all about finding ways of raising discretionary revenue so we can keep lowering the cost of air travel."

Mr O'Leary has a reputation as a cost cutter, expanding Ryanair by offering low headline fares and charging extra for items such as additional luggage. The move has been criticised by air passenger groups. James Freemantle, industry affairs manager at the Air Transport Users Council, said while they supported some charges to drive down ticket prices, a lavatory fee was a "step too far".


One pound to spend a penny?

He said: "There's a limit on these extra charges and they shouldn't be putting them everywhere." Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "While this has been discussed internally, there are no immediate plans to introduce it. Passengers using train and bus stations are already accustomed to paying to use the toilet, so why not on airplanes?" True but they don't pay ON trains and once asgain Ryanair is not thinking how this would impact on older and disabled passengers and families or indeed the dignity of all passengers - I pay to travel, not to enjoy ritual humiliation? Last week, Ryanair announced it was to shut all its European check-in desks by early next year and have passengers check-in online.

Now Michael O’Leary has the same weakness as Oliver Cromwell had, he is very bad at bringing the public with him for the simple reason that he is too confrontational and travelling with Ryanair can become a hassle filled obstacle course with the carrier waiting in a predatory manner to bite your bum financially! The result is it alienates a whole section of passengers, including older flyers, those with children and those who have impaired mobility. Other carriers do it differently, for instance, if you miss an Easyjet Flight and are at the airport within two hours they will put you on the next flight for £40. By contrast I have seen a Portuguese family at Stansted when they missed their flight by minutes because the so called Stansted Express had a signal failure being in tears after being quoted £220 for a one way leg to Oporto on the next Ryanair flight.



Similarly toothless regulators have allowed Ryanair to laugh in the face of British and European Disability legislation by playing “trick or treat” by only allowing 4 people with mobility impairment or special needs on each flight, and these have to contact an impossible to contact Call Centre (at a cost) the same day and take the risk of being bounced off the flight. 10% of the population is in the mobility impaired category but 4 out of 186 seats on a Ryanair plane equates to 2.15% availability of seats for these vulnerable people. Altogether apart from the moral and legal equations it makes little sense to turn your back on such a large pool of customers. So Michael stop doing a Cromwell and work on making the Customer Interface less confrontational and more friendly and inclusive. Who knows the Business School drones of the future could be doing a module on how Ryanair transformed its image, rediscovered its customer and became “The Friendly Skies of Europe.” Not a bad way to go in a recession?

Ryanair on December 2nd. 2008 raised its net income forecast for the year ending March 31 to 50 million euros, saying the falling price of oil has more than compensated for the lower fares it’s offering to stave off a traffic drop. Passenger numbers rose 11 percent in January from a year earlier. Ryanair was trading up 15 cents, or 0.5 percent, at 3.02 euros as of 12:26 p.m. in Dublin. The stock has added 1.5 percent this year, giving a market value of 4.44 billion euros.

See also; “Ryanair, The European Airline?”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/ryanair-european-airline.html

(U)Ryanair

The Mouth of the West

Checking into Ryanair Flight FR118 at Dublin to London Gatwick the other evening I noticed a familiar face in the security line in front of me at Dublin Airport. It was none other than Michael O’Leary the outspoken Chief Executive of Ryanair, widely known as “The Mouth of the West” in Ireland. I asked him where the bodyguard was and he smiled and said he could look after himself. I don’t doubt it and there he was going through the ordinary line in jeans, check shirt and leather jacket having his luggage x-rayed with all the other passengers. The flight to London he was on (he sat in the front row and was first off the plane) had a number of innovations, namely it was enabled for mobile use in the air at “only” £3.00 a minute and you could get a “Ryanair Flame Grilled Cheese Burger” for only 9 euros. Strangely I resisted both temptations and the Sage’s zero purchase on Ryanair policy was maintained.

Now Ryanair gets a lot of knocking copy (sometimes from me) but those of us with longer memories remember what a restrictive cartel European air travel was before Ryanair. BA and Aer Lingus operated a cartel on the Dublin / London route and charged £230 return for a trip 20 years ago. Cheap fares could only be bought with stupid restrictions like being re-endorsed by a travel agent (What! Why!) for the return leg which led to British Airways stranding me in Dublin for 3 days and don’t even get me started on how exploitive Aer Lingus was with its so called “Compassionate air fares” designed to "help" customers travelling for bereavements or family emergencies. I remember in 1987 when Dublin / Oslo cost £564 (£2,000 in today’s terms) and Dublin / Geneva cost £380 in 1976. What a contrast when In 1999 I flew London / Lubeck for £5.00 return all in and laughed when I saw Ryanair fly in with a plane with “Aufwiedershen Lufthansa” on the side. Well, nobody is laughing today as Ryanair is the biggest and most profitable European airline with 170 Boeing 737-800’s in the air.

So I do admire what Michael O’Leary has achieved and his simplification of the business model and operation will be thought to Business Course drones for many years to come, no doubt to O’Leary’s great amusement. However Michael has the same problem as Oliver Cromwell had in Ireland, he doesn’t explain his mission too well and sometimes he revels in going too far. For the next morning he was at it again, pissing off his customers, if you’ll excuse the pun; “One thing we’ve looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting in a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in the future,” Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said in a televised interview with the BBC. His comments were confirmed by the carrier.



Ryanair may charge passengers to use toilets on its planes, adding to fees already imposed for beverages, stowed baggage, airport check-in and preferential boarding. Ryanair generates about 20 percent of revenue from so-called ancillary income, the money it makes aside from ticket sales. The Dublin-based company this month introduced technology allowing passengers to use their own mobile phones on aircraft.

Mr O'Leary said this would not inconvenience passengers travelling without cash. "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound," he added. "We're all about finding ways of raising discretionary revenue so we can keep lowering the cost of air travel."

Mr O'Leary has a reputation as a cost cutter, expanding Ryanair by offering low headline fares and charging extra for items such as additional luggage. The move has been criticised by air passenger groups. James Freemantle, industry affairs manager at the Air Transport Users Council, said while they supported some charges to drive down ticket prices, a lavatory fee was a "step too far".


One pound to spend a penny?

He said: "There's a limit on these extra charges and they shouldn't be putting them everywhere." Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "While this has been discussed internally, there are no immediate plans to introduce it. Passengers using train and bus stations are already accustomed to paying to use the toilet, so why not on airplanes?" True but they don't pay ON trains and once asgain Ryanair is not thinking how this would impact on older and disabled passengers and families or indeed the dignity of all passengers - I pay to travel, not to enjoy ritual humiliation? Last week, Ryanair announced it was to shut all its European check-in desks by early next year and have passengers check-in online.

Now Michael O’Leary has the same weakness as Oliver Cromwell had, he is very bad at bringing the public with him for the simple reason that he is too confrontational and travelling with Ryanair can become a hassle filled obstacle course with the carrier waiting in a predatory manner to bite your bum financially! The result is it alienates a whole section of passengers, including older flyers, those with children and those who have impaired mobility. Other carriers do it differently, for instance, if you miss an Easyjet Flight and are at the airport within two hours they will put you on the next flight for £40. By contrast I have seen a Portuguese family at Stansted when they missed their flight by minutes because the so called Stansted Express had a signal failure being in tears after being quoted £220 for a one way leg to Oporto on the next Ryanair flight.



Similarly toothless regulators have allowed Ryanair to laugh in the face of British and European Disability legislation by playing “trick or treat” by only allowing 4 people with mobility impairment or special needs on each flight, and these have to contact an impossible to contact Call Centre (at a cost) the same day and take the risk of being bounced off the flight. 10% of the population is in the mobility impaired category but 4 out of 186 seats on a Ryanair plane equates to 2.15% availability of seats for these vulnerable people. Altogether apart from the moral and legal equations it makes little sense to turn your back on such a large pool of customers. So Michael stop doing a Cromwell and work on making the Customer Interface less confrontational and more friendly and inclusive. Who knows the Business School drones of the future could be doing a module on how Ryanair transformed its image, rediscovered its customer and became “The Friendly Skies of Europe.” Not a bad way to go in a recession?

Ryanair on December 2nd. 2008 raised its net income forecast for the year ending March 31 to 50 million euros, saying the falling price of oil has more than compensated for the lower fares it’s offering to stave off a traffic drop. Passenger numbers rose 11 percent in January from a year earlier. Ryanair was trading up 15 cents, or 0.5 percent, at 3.02 euros as of 12:26 p.m. in Dublin. The stock has added 1.5 percent this year, giving a market value of 4.44 billion euros.

See also; “Ryanair, The European Airline?”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/ryanair-european-airline.html

Save the St. Reatham One!

The St. Reatham One - 29 May 2008

The Celtic Sage has long cast a cold eye on the abusive behaviour of British Airways (BA) and the so called British Airports Authority (BAA) to the cattle (their expression is “self loading cargo”) who have to use their quasi monopolies which have been protected from full competition by cartel behaviour of various sorts. BAA is actually a front for a Spanish brick company called Ferrovial who overpaid with nearly £1 Bn of borrowed money for what it thought was a Cash Cow to find out it neither had the management skills or resources to husband it properly and this Cow would leave messy cow pats everywhere, particularly at the inept opening of Terminal 5 where the feisty Streatham One was caught up in the opening chaos. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/up-up-and-away-with-baa.html )
BAA has a dominant monopoly on airport capacity in the south of England and British Airways has a dominant position on slots from Heathrow which allows it to charge 30% more for an equivalent Business Class flight to New York than is available from Paris or Amsterdam. Yup, neither BA nor BAA need lessons in how to abuse customers or screw excess profits out of their cartels.

So the Celtic Sage is totally unsurprised at the behaviour of the Plods as the day after BAA reported its first quarterly loss and on the day British Airways announced increased fuel surcharges and that the rest of its flights won’t move to Terminal Five until October (thereby blocking its competitors from moving into Terminal 4) Supermodel Naomi Campbell was today charged with five offences over an alleged air rage incident at Heathrow. The charges, which include three offences of assaulting police, follow an incident last month when she was removed from a flight for Los Angeles after an alleged row over lost luggage.
(http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/up-up-and-away-with-baa-no-2.html )

In fact British Airways and BAA were so bad that they have succeeded in generating sympathy for Naomi “Anger Management” Campbell who was led off one of their planes by Police called by BA staff after she paid £6,000 for a First Class fare to Los Angeles and BA lost one of her bags which contained an outfit for a memorial service she was attending.

The alleged incident occurred on a BA flight which was due to leave for Los Angeles from Terminal 5 on 3 April. Ms Campbell will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on 20 June, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Her lawyer, Simon Nicholls said she was "bitterly disappointed" to learn she will be prosecuted. He told reporters: "She respects that decision and she hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously."

The British Airways "First Experience" 3 April 2008

The CPS said Ms Campbell has been charged with three counts of assaulting a constable, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to £5,000. She also faces one count of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, which is punishable by a fine of up to £2,500, and two counts of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour towards cabin crew, which comes with a maximum penalty of £1,000.

Moments later, the Crown Prosecution Service formally announced the charges in a statement, saying: "The CPS has authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Naomi Campbell with five offences in relation to incidents that occurred on a stationary aircraft and within Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, London, on 3 April 2008. "Ms Campbell has today been charged with three offences of assaulting a constable, one offence of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and one offence of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour to cabin crew. "These are summary offences which can only be tried at a magistrates' court."

The alleged incident occurred after the supermodel was told by staff in the first-class cabin that one her bags had been lost. They told her that she would have to leave the flight, causing Campbell to allegedly respond with an angry tirade which led to police being called. Reports claimed she had yelled "a***holes. You are all a***holes" at police and described BA staff as "bloody fools" as she allegedly lashed out verbally and physically. Female staff reportedly collapsed in tears as the incident escalated. After armed officers arrived, she was eventually taken off the plane in handcuffs. Although there has been no official confirmation, BA is understood to have imposed a lifetime ban on Campbell.

Well there are two issues hear where you may feel we should be supporting the Streatham One as an unlikely martyr figure for passenger rights and protection of passengers from an expensive publicly funded Constabulary (You know the one you don’t see on the streets, who don’t respond to burglaries, who replaced Police Stations with call centres, etc;) which has abandoned its statutory independence to become attack dogs for an abusive Transport Industry.

1. Why did the Police (armed officers no less) feel they had to become involved in a civil dispute between a customer who paid £6,000 for a service and an inept airline which failed abysmally to deliver the promised service to Naomi Campbell. Now Naomi is feisty and the Celtic Sage is aware of her reputation with Irish lads (take a bow Adam Clayton from U2!) but did she really put burly armed Constables in flak jackets waving handcuffs and pepper sprays in fear? And exactly who was being harassed having paid a premium rate to get to Los Angeles for a memorial service (Note; generally, people are only buried / cremated once) to be told by the airline that SHE would have to leave the plane because THEY had lost a bag (Indeed they lost thousands of bags) SHE had entrusted to THEM for safe keeping!

We wuz scared, Your Honour!

Why do the Police feel able to use draconian security legislation applying to airports to intimidate passengers who simply want to go from A to B?

2. Why are ALL airline customers at such a disadvantage when airlines use unfair contract terms to ignore the clear contract to get them and their luggage from A to B. Here is what BA’s website promises all who pay through the nose for their “First Experience.”

• Effortless travel
• A queue-less, personalised and stress free environment to check in your baggage
• Choice and control
• “Your secluded “demi-cabin” guarantees space and privacy
• Continue relaxing within our arrivals lounge
• Our specially trained First crew will provide you with a discreet yet attentive service, ensuring that all your personal needs are taken care of.

Well you couldn’t make it up could you; you don’t need to be a Naomi Campbell to feel harassed at the gap between the marketing guff and the reality. Perhaps the St. Reatham One should consider suing British Airways for what the law terms “unjust enrichment” by promising a service it clearly was in no position to deliver. Just as she won a legal precedent against the media over privacy maybe she can now establish another legal precedent;that merely by buying an airline ticket and entering an airport we do not agree to abandon our Civil Rights and our Consumer Rights. It is worth noting that since Naomi was harassed and abused on the 3rd April 2008 the MD of Heathrow Airport and the two British Airways Directors most closely involved in the T5 Fiasco have been sacked and BA have confirmed tha 19,000 bags have been lost permanently. Strangely, the only person arrested as a result of the fiasco has neen Naomi Campbell. Surely it can't be a case of the PLODs and the Crown Prosecution Service translating the "Public Interest" into desperately seeking publicity? This is much of what passes for Policing and the Justice System in the UK today; High Visibility; Zero Substance.

And as for the Court appearance I look forward to the evidence of a lardy armed copper in flak jacket “Well your honour, I looked at this tall, unarmed, Jamaican IC3 with a loud voice, funny accent, threatening big hair and larger than average lips and I immediately felt apprehensive for my safety. I have been off sick with diagnosed Post Naomi Stress Syndrome (PNSS) ever since and have taken to beating my wife more than normal and messing up my overtime claim.” Hopefully Lenny Henry will be in court gathering material for his next sketch! It's an opportunity too good to miss Lenny!

All together now, FREE THE ST. REATHAM ONE!!

Save the St. Reatham One!

The St. Reatham One - 29 May 2008

The Celtic Sage has long cast a cold eye on the abusive behaviour of British Airways (BA) and the so called British Airports Authority (BAA) to the cattle (their expression is “self loading cargo”) who have to use their quasi monopolies which have been protected from full competition by cartel behaviour of various sorts. BAA is actually a front for a Spanish brick company called Ferrovial who overpaid with nearly £1 Bn of borrowed money for what it thought was a Cash Cow to find out it neither had the management skills or resources to husband it properly and this Cow would leave messy cow pats everywhere, particularly at the inept opening of Terminal 5 where the feisty Streatham One was caught up in the opening chaos. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/up-up-and-away-with-baa.html )
BAA has a dominant monopoly on airport capacity in the south of England and British Airways has a dominant position on slots from Heathrow which allows it to charge 30% more for an equivalent Business Class flight to New York than is available from Paris or Amsterdam. Yup, neither BA nor BAA need lessons in how to abuse customers or screw excess profits out of their cartels.

So the Celtic Sage is totally unsurprised at the behaviour of the Plods as the day after BAA reported its first quarterly loss and on the day British Airways announced increased fuel surcharges and that the rest of its flights won’t move to Terminal Five until October (thereby blocking its competitors from moving into Terminal 4) Supermodel Naomi Campbell was today charged with five offences over an alleged air rage incident at Heathrow. The charges, which include three offences of assaulting police, follow an incident last month when she was removed from a flight for Los Angeles after an alleged row over lost luggage.
(http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/up-up-and-away-with-baa-no-2.html )

In fact British Airways and BAA were so bad that they have succeeded in generating sympathy for Naomi “Anger Management” Campbell who was led off one of their planes by Police called by BA staff after she paid £6,000 for a First Class fare to Los Angeles and BA lost one of her bags which contained an outfit for a memorial service she was attending.

The alleged incident occurred on a BA flight which was due to leave for Los Angeles from Terminal 5 on 3 April. Ms Campbell will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on 20 June, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Her lawyer, Simon Nicholls said she was "bitterly disappointed" to learn she will be prosecuted. He told reporters: "She respects that decision and she hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously."

The British Airways "First Experience" 3 April 2008

The CPS said Ms Campbell has been charged with three counts of assaulting a constable, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to £5,000. She also faces one count of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, which is punishable by a fine of up to £2,500, and two counts of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour towards cabin crew, which comes with a maximum penalty of £1,000.

Moments later, the Crown Prosecution Service formally announced the charges in a statement, saying: "The CPS has authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Naomi Campbell with five offences in relation to incidents that occurred on a stationary aircraft and within Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, London, on 3 April 2008. "Ms Campbell has today been charged with three offences of assaulting a constable, one offence of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and one offence of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour to cabin crew. "These are summary offences which can only be tried at a magistrates' court."

The alleged incident occurred after the supermodel was told by staff in the first-class cabin that one her bags had been lost. They told her that she would have to leave the flight, causing Campbell to allegedly respond with an angry tirade which led to police being called. Reports claimed she had yelled "a***holes. You are all a***holes" at police and described BA staff as "bloody fools" as she allegedly lashed out verbally and physically. Female staff reportedly collapsed in tears as the incident escalated. After armed officers arrived, she was eventually taken off the plane in handcuffs. Although there has been no official confirmation, BA is understood to have imposed a lifetime ban on Campbell.

Well there are two issues hear where you may feel we should be supporting the Streatham One as an unlikely martyr figure for passenger rights and protection of passengers from an expensive publicly funded Constabulary (You know the one you don’t see on the streets, who don’t respond to burglaries, who replaced Police Stations with call centres, etc;) which has abandoned its statutory independence to become attack dogs for an abusive Transport Industry.

1. Why did the Police (armed officers no less) feel they had to become involved in a civil dispute between a customer who paid £6,000 for a service and an inept airline which failed abysmally to deliver the promised service to Naomi Campbell. Now Naomi is feisty and the Celtic Sage is aware of her reputation with Irish lads (take a bow Adam Clayton from U2!) but did she really put burly armed Constables in flak jackets waving handcuffs and pepper sprays in fear? And exactly who was being harassed having paid a premium rate to get to Los Angeles for a memorial service (Note; generally, people are only buried / cremated once) to be told by the airline that SHE would have to leave the plane because THEY had lost a bag (Indeed they lost thousands of bags) SHE had entrusted to THEM for safe keeping!

We wuz scared, Your Honour!

Why do the Police feel able to use draconian security legislation applying to airports to intimidate passengers who simply want to go from A to B?

2. Why are ALL airline customers at such a disadvantage when airlines use unfair contract terms to ignore the clear contract to get them and their luggage from A to B. Here is what BA’s website promises all who pay through the nose for their “First Experience.”

• Effortless travel
• A queue-less, personalised and stress free environment to check in your baggage
• Choice and control
• “Your secluded “demi-cabin” guarantees space and privacy
• Continue relaxing within our arrivals lounge
• Our specially trained First crew will provide you with a discreet yet attentive service, ensuring that all your personal needs are taken care of.

Well you couldn’t make it up could you; you don’t need to be a Naomi Campbell to feel harassed at the gap between the marketing guff and the reality. Perhaps the St. Reatham One should consider suing British Airways for what the law terms “unjust enrichment” by promising a service it clearly was in no position to deliver. Just as she won a legal precedent against the media over privacy maybe she can now establish another legal precedent;that merely by buying an airline ticket and entering an airport we do not agree to abandon our Civil Rights and our Consumer Rights. It is worth noting that since Naomi was harassed and abused on the 3rd April 2008 the MD of Heathrow Airport and the two British Airways Directors most closely involved in the T5 Fiasco have been sacked and BA have confirmed tha 19,000 bags have been lost permanently. Strangely, the only person arrested as a result of the fiasco has neen Naomi Campbell. Surely it can't be a case of the PLODs and the Crown Prosecution Service translating the "Public Interest" into desperately seeking publicity? This is much of what passes for Policing and the Justice System in the UK today; High Visibility; Zero Substance.

And as for the Court appearance I look forward to the evidence of a lardy armed copper in flak jacket “Well your honour, I looked at this tall, unarmed, Jamaican IC3 with a loud voice, funny accent, threatening big hair and larger than average lips and I immediately felt apprehensive for my safety. I have been off sick with diagnosed Post Naomi Stress Syndrome (PNSS) ever since and have taken to beating my wife more than normal and messing up my overtime claim.” Hopefully Lenny Henry will be in court gathering material for his next sketch! It's an opportunity too good to miss Lenny!

All together now, FREE THE ST. REATHAM ONE!!