As a BA pilot who deliberately bids for trips heading to the USA - I would 'like to take issue with a number of points made on this forum , clearly often as a gut reaction due to mistaken or misplaced national pride , than as the result of logical thought .
The success of preventative measures is often impossible to judge - you are trying to prevent something . The measures put in place by the USA are far more pragmatic and logical than some of the nonsense put forward by the UK .
Having now been through the fingerprinting and 'photo three times , I can assure you all that it is becoming a far faster practice now that it is up and running , and last week , passengers and crew cleared immigration in the US faster than before .
If there were intelligence errors pre 9/11 as some writers so eagerly allege , then no nation on earth learns from its mistakes and moves forwards 'like the United States. No nation on earth has such a history of repeating the same mistakes as the U.K. , at the same time basking in an unfounded arrogance , an almost childish sense of misplaced national pride.
Here we have a government which allows free flow immigration - at the expense of the UK taxpayers . Elected to look after the security and welfare of the UK , it has'nt yet had the guts to deport that violence and hatred inciting hook-handed maniac from the Finsbury mosque - and people have the cheek to criticise another nation for looking to the welfare of its citizens and security . Rather than an automatic reaction as a result of misplaced - and frankly unfounded national pride - consider whether the US is not simply behaving bravely and wisely - in sharp contrast to the British and the French .A leader is elected to protect its citizens as best as it can ; my own government has'nt got the courage to do so . A nation can , incidentally , impose whatever conditions it 'likes on aircraft within its airspace - that is settled International Law - including the carriage of Air Marshalls- and I shall be delighted to carry them ; I feel more secure flying to the US than any other destination , and choose to accordingly , because I am far safer in the hands of the US legislators and subject to US measures , than I am under my own or any European governments.