Airline Terrorist Hoaxes

With the terrorism "fad' so large and growing these days the latest dilemma for the airlines is what reaction an airline should take towards it. No, I am not talking about screening for "terrorists", something that I think is overdone, done for effect and probably mostly a waste of time and an inconvenience. The issue the airlines are facing is what to do when the plane is aloft and a threat is called in that it will be destroyed or is going to be disabled while in flight?

Recently, a  kitchen timer, paper and cardboard found in a lavatory on an Air France flight. This could have been a bomb, but the crew didn't tell passengers about it. Instead they announced to the passengers that the plane had a technical problem and would be landing in Kenya instead of Paris.

That's not exactly the full truth,  and raises an ethical question about when passengers should be fully informed of problems in the air. But many experts say the crew of Air France Flight 463 did the right thing, avoiding panic and quickly landing the plane. Once on the ground, security officials determined that the device was a hoax, and passengers were told the full story. Besides, what good is it to tell passengers they may explode in a moment's notice because of a terrorist bomb. Nothing could be done to avoid it except to do what the plane did, land at the nearest airport as soon as possible.

Air France said  hat in the case that I mentioned above, the crew had no evidence that the device was an actual bomb, so telling passengers there was a technical problem was true in the sense that they don't know what they have. Still, many are upset and want the airlines to tell them "everything" when a   terrorist plot is discover while aloft. Most airlines don't have specific policies on what to tell passengers, leaving that up to the crew. But experts say airlines should be thinking more about what to do in this time of increasing security threats and hoaxes. For Air France, this was the fourth bomb hoax in recent weeks. Crew members also have to weigh how much passengers can find out from other sources as more planes come equipped with Internet and television access. Also, to many diversions when the threat is a hoax is not good business for the airlines and upsets passengers.

So what would you want the airline to tell you if you were a passenger on board that Air France flight. Telling passengers might would really create unnecessary problems like panic that could threaten the safety of everyone on board.  And what could they do about a threat except land elsewhere quickly? But obviously, on thing we can all probably agree is that when the threatened plane is on the ground passengers should be told the whole truth.