Two Federal Air Marshals escape Brazil after in-flight assault charge

During a recent flight from Houston to Rio de Janeiro, two U.S. Federal Air Marshals were requested to assist the crew with an unruly passenger. According to crew reports, an intoxicated female passenger tried to start serving herself more alcohol from the galley.

The air marshals approached the lady, and she struggled with them. At one point, she bit a marshal, so she was handcuffed and placed under arrest.

Upon arrival at Rio de Janerio airport, the duo attempted to turn the woman over to local authorities, but they themselves ended up being arrested for assault. As it turns out, the woman they had arrested is the wife of a prominent Brazilian judge.

Their passports were confiscated, and the two were not permitted to leave the country. At this point, they could have waited for the diplomats behind the scenes to fix the situation, but they opted to flee the county on alternative travel documents.

According to CNN, the duo believed the charges against them were retaliatory and decided it was in their best interests to leave the country as soon as possible. Arresting the marshals violates the Tokyo Convention – which allows aircraft operators on international flights to restrain passengers “who are committing or about to commit an offence liable to interfere with the safety of persons or property on board or who are jeopardising good order and discipline“.

The whole incident will probably be fixed by diplomats at the State Department, and I’m sure someone will be taking a very close look at the Judge behind the charges so see whether they were warranted or whether someone overstepped their rights. Unfortunately for the women – being the wife of a powerful judge does not mean you have a free pass to create havoc on a plane.

Airlines to federal air marshals – get out of our first class cabins and sit in coach

A debate is brewing amongst the airlines about the effectiveness of federal air marshals sitting in the first class cabin.

The current air marshal program was based on the events of 9/11, and the fact the would-be terrorists would attempt to take over the cockpit. As past events have shown, the “new” method used by terrorists is to create their mayhem in the coach cabin, using explosives. Having the air marshal up front in a comfy chair isn’t going to help much if the majority of issues are in the rear.

Also, after 9/11, cockpit doors were reinforced, making it almost impossible to storm the cockpit without some major tools.

At the moment, air marshals expect first class seating, and in some cases, a long haul international flight could have three or four marshals taking up pricey seats. Of course, the airlines are quick to point out that this is not a revenue issue, but purely based off safety and the appropriate response to new threats. That may very well be, but I know that paying passengers are not thrilled when they can’t get a first class seat simply because a bunch of air marshals feel they need to be up front.

A spokesman for the air marshal program said that “seating is assigned to maximize the effectiveness of the team. Move further and further back in the plane and it will take longer and longer to respond.”

I’m not entirely sure what he’s basing this on – since all the recent threats were in the back of the plane. With his logic, it takes longer to walk from the back of the plane, to the back of the plane, than it takes to walk from the front to the back. Sitting in the back of the plane also gives a much easier way to watch the entire cabin. With just 40 or 50 rows of seats to maneuver, I’m sure these fit marshals won’t take much longer to get from one end to another.

What are your thoughts? Should the federal air marshal program require their agents to sit in first class, or should they be able to do their job from coach?

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[Photo from Flickr/Richard Moross]

Stupid passenger of the week – impersonates a federal air marshal

When we travel, we all do something stupid at one point. It could be forgetting an important item of clothing, or something as simple as forgetting where you parked your car when you get back to long term parking.

But a passenger at Miami airport took stupid to a whole new level when he arrived at his gate past the departure time.

Yeah, many of us have probably been through this routine – you get to the gate, but the boarding door is closed and even though you can see the plane, the agents won’t let you on board.

Normal people will be upset, some others might even go berserk, but this guy decided it would be a fun idea to pull a fake police badge and claim he’s with the federal air marshal program.

Those magic words got the doors opened for him, and he was allowed on the plane. His plan would have been perfect, if it were not for 2 real marshals on the flight who kicked him off when they inspected his badge.

At that point, this idiot could have/should have simply left the airport, but he decided to vent at the airport bar, where he started to complain loudly about missing his flight. Which of course made it really easy for cops to arrest him.

He’s being charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer, and I’m sure they’ll find some other nice terror related charges to throw at him. I sure hope he enjoys riding the bus, because I doubt he’ll be flying the friendly skies any time soon.

(thanks Emily!)

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Paranoia strikes again – Muslim family kicked off their Airtran flight

Here we go again. Another family traveling for the holidays has been kicked off their flight after a fellow passenger observed them mentioning the word “safety”. That’s right, not “bomb”, “terrorist” or “hijack”.

Just your average family of 9 trying to figure out where they wanted to seat.

Someone on board managed to get the attention of 2 federal air marshals, who then contacted their superiors in Washington. The family was then kicked off the plane, questioned by the FBI and of course, cleared of any wrongdoing.

The TSA then decided that the threat was so credible, that all 104 passengers would have to be re-screened, and that all their bags would have to be inspected again. To me, this means that they admit they may have done a crappy job during the first screening.

As if that wasn’t enough, Airtran then refused to transport the 9 passengers and simply refunded their tickets. It took some effort by the FBI to find alternative flights for the family.

Good job Airtran, keeping us safe from people trying to find a decent seat on your flights. In their defense, AirTran did let the family know that they were free to fly with them in the future, which I’m sure they are really thrilled to hear.

(Via: NBC Washington)