What Would You Do: Lock Down or Over Look?

Posted in Security | 13 comments

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Police and firefighters met an Alaska Airlines jet as it taxied to terminal two at LAX  at 8.30am yesterday morning. Pilots locked down their cockpit when flight attendants advised them that three passengers performed a bizarre Jewish prayer in the middle of the jet’s cabin. They radioed a security alert after passengers and flight attendants became alarmed during the flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles.

In flight prayer: The Tefillin ritual which was conducted on the jet as it flew from Mexico to Los Angeles, involves binding leather straps to the body with wooden boxes which contain scriptures.  The passengers, Mexican nationals, were escorted off the plane and then questioned by the FBI before being released.

Early reports said that the flight attendants became alarmed when the passengers fastened the leather straps to their body and began to pray loudly through the cabin. Our training tells us that passengers are permitted to pray in the galleys and in the cabin, without interference from the crew.. but my question is at what point do you ponder if a practice such as this is in fact prayer and not a cover for something else? When you’re at 35,000ft and you’re having to make an educated guess if none of the crewmembers are knowledgeable in the specific religion, is it best to err on the side of the majority of the passengers or the religious passengers right to prayer?

Do you think the crew made the right decision? Was it an over-reaction? Let me know.. leave a comment.

UpUp&AGay News | Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365934/Pilots-lock-cockpit-passengers-bizarre-Jewish-prayer-ritual.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

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  • Just_wing_n_it

    I believe the crew made the right decision. Without knowing what rituals all religions practice, this does not seem like an over reaction. There is a time and a place for such prayers and in my opinion this is neither the time nor the place. If this prayer session is mandated by their religion, then perhaps a little communication with the flight crew could have saved everyone a lot of grief. Better yet, plan a trip that doesn’t require a religious service 30,000+ feet in the sky. I question if it was necessay to conduct this prayer session in this environment. Not only was it questionable it was downright disrespectful of others around them. I have problems when preachers preach to me from a street corner, but at least I can walk away. I can’t get away from it locked in a metal tube at 30,000 feet.

    • http://upupandagay.com Bobby Laurie

      They should have realized, while planning the trip, that it would interfere with their prayer and taken a later flight or earlier for that matter to be on the ground when the time struck. Agreed!

  • http://twitter.com/travelingiraffe Crissy Maier

    I can’t imagine just ignoring this. I know a lot of jewish people, I’ve been around the jewish communities in NYC during quite a few of their holidays and this is a new one to me. If you’re going to do a strange (other then quiet prayer in your seat) religious practice you should at least alert a Flight Attendant to it before you do it. And if someone who hasn’t seen the religious prayer might find it alarming then you probably shouldn’t plan a flight when you need to do it. Just because you’re allowed to do something doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea, especially in a metal tube flying through the air.

    • http://upupandagay.com Bobby Laurie

      Crissy, I agree! They should have a least told the crew what their prayer involved and how long it’d last, so that at least maybe they could have even alerted the passengers around them as to not create hysteria. These folks need to respect their fellow passengers and crew just as they would all be expected their right to pray.

    • http://www.facebook.com/joseph.singer Joseph Singer

      It doesn’t matter “if you’ve been around a lot of Jewish” people. You obviously are ignorant of the custom which has been around for thousands of years. It’s not as if this hasn’t happened many times before. It has. You’d think by now that people would know. Take an El Al flight to Israel and see the weirdness there if you think this is odd.

  • http://mhaithaca.livejournal.com/ mhaithaca

    I think the crew made an incredibly insensitive and prejudiced decision. There’s nothing “bizarre” about any of what you’re describing; it’s part of Orthodox Jewish prayer ritual, and it’s as normal a part of someone’s day as checking e-mail is for you and me. The suggestions in comments here that religious people shouldn’t travel at times when they might need to pray, or that there’s “a time and place,” or that one’s own prayer practices could in any way be “disrespectful of others” are appalling. Religious freedom means freedom to practice one’s own religion, or not, in one’s own way. And, as you say, your training is clear that religious observance is permitted, plain and simple.

    Could the crisis have been averted if the passengers had let the cabin crew know what they were going to do, and why? Perhaps. But seriously, these practices are just such a normal part of life for observant Jews that there’s no reason it would occur to them to “warn” anyone. Well, NOW, of course, it will occur to them, because NOW they know there are prejudiced louts in the skies, ready to persecute them for simple expressions of their religious faith. Disgusting.

    • Theflyingpinto

      I agree that bizarre is not the way to describe a prayer ritual, but prior to my international training I would not have known about a lot of cultural or religious differences either. I absolutely agree that religious freedom is important too, but I disagree that the crew was acting out of prejudice. If anything it is the airlines fault for not educating their flight attendants.

      As flight attendants we are taught not to judge by race or religion, but rather behavior. In the crews defense we have been told that some terrorists may decide to pray before meeting Allah…not to say all Muslims are terrorists. I really don’t think they were acting out of prejudice, but rather unfamiliarity and inexperience. As Oprah says, “when you know better you do better.”

      • http://mhaithaca.livejournal.com/ mhaithaca

        Unfortunately, if you’ve been told that terrorists might pray before going to meet Allah, that IS prejudice. I don’t blame you for what you’ve been told, but it’s prejudice at work here, not to mention FUD. Never mind that it also seems hugely unlikely that an actual terrorist would call attention to himself that way.

        Of course, not everyone can tell the difference between Hebrew and Arabic, and not everyone will recognize a Jewish prayer shawl (tallit). Did the cabin crew think these were Islamic Arabs? Did the fact that they were Mexican and thus perhaps of more swarthy complexion play into the situation?

        To answer Bobby’s rhetorical question, AT NO POINT should anyone decide that prayer might be cover for something else. If you ask someone what they’re up to and they tell you they’re praying, that should be the end of the story until and unless there’s evidence that they have a weapon or explosives.

        • Theflyingpinto

          I don’t know if I would consider that prejudice…I will give it some thought. I understand what you are saying about there needing to be evidence of a weapon, but if you take into consideration that the flight attendants really never saw this prayer ritual and that the gentleman repeatedly ignored the fasten seatbelt sign and requests of the FAs to observe it, and retrieved items unfamiliar to the FAs from the overhead bins then maybe you can see were they were coming from. Not every weapon looks like a weapon. Especially when someone is ignoring your request to be seated.You have to try to understand where the crew was coming from. I truly don’t believe for a second they were being prejudice. I do believe they lack training but I also think we all need to respect eachother and that includes passengers adhering to crewmembers instructions. The men were asked repeatedly to observe the fasten seatbelt sign and in a post 911 world you can’t just ignore that and ruffle through the overhead bin. That would have been the time to explain what was going on.

          • http://twitter.com/aaronrmurphy Aaron Murphy

            If you can’t follow the rules, you get tossed. It’s procedure for airlines to create a safe environment for their passengers, that includes diverting to the nearest airport when an unruly passenger refuses to buckle their seatbelt or heed instructions given by flight crew, no matter their background! We can’t all be immersed in the various cultures and customs of the world; this crew was clearly unfamiliar with the tradition and they had every right (and Federal Law behind them, mind you) to do what they did when the passengers did not comply. We have all seen the drunks get tossed after failing to comply with lighted seatbelt signs and flight crew instructions, even seemingly well-ordered businesspersons who refuse to turn off their electronic devices. This is a simple task – comply or face the consequences.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KNWGYGW4LEIVCJOAFKIIHRSZOM nicole j

          It is not insensitive, it is a unfortunate side effect of one particular groups religious extremists. Every religion has had their ‘moment’ of extremism, so we can’t judge all by the actions of the few, but we need to be aware of those actions and take steps to protect ourselves.

          Lets take this situation away from the religious. It is a case of If B happened, then it is highly likely that A preceded it (in this case prayer before bombing) but if A happened, then B does not always occur (praying, but no bombing).

          Okay in a different scenario. If B, then A was highly likely, such as in a car accident it is highly likely that the car was speeding. But if A, than not always B, such as cars speed all the time without getting into accidents. Due to this, traffic laws are enforced to cut down on accidents.

          Now we know that A and B CAN BE RELATED. So in interest of public safety, if A occurs, it is logical to take measures to ensure B does not occur. It would be negligent if they did not take some sort of action to ensure the rest of the passengers and the crew.

          If someone is practicing a religious ceremony, given the times we live in and the fact that not everyone is in the religion they are following and is not required to learn every ceremony of every religion through the world, it is common sense to notify the flight attendants so they can be aware and be given the opportunity to be culturally sensitive. Otherwise, a man strapping objects to his body and praying loudly sounds a whole lot like a suicide bomber if you don’t know the background.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joseph.singer Joseph Singer

    It was insensitivity and overreaction. And stupidity.

  • http://twitter.com/FlyBachelorette Flying Bachelorette

    So much to say on this issue. First, I stand behind my Flight Attendant brothers & sisters at Alaska Airlines. With the knowledge provided, they did what they felt was in the best interest of their passengers. They did what all flight attendants are trained to do in a post 9-11 era in the United States of America. That is to report unusual circumstances to the flight deck immediately. It is then the Captain’s decision to divert etc. Most pilots would rather err on the cautious side.

    This is not an issue of religious tolerance. To simply conclude that the airline do a better job educating their crews on all of the seemingly out-of-place religious practices is not enough. You cannot convince me that these 3 men were unaware that the Tefillin may look like an explosive device nor that they had no idea that the US was attacked in 2011 with their own airplanes and that maybe Flight Crews may be alarmed by it- no matter how normal this practice is to them.

    So basically what I have learned from all of this- is that when I see something that seems a little bit off……I should just stay in my galley & mind my own business and not say a word? Oh its okay- it’s probably a religious tradition. We’re damned if we do- damned if we don’t. Because if we don’t say anything & something of real significant danger happens- guess who is to blame and attacked in the media?