In August 03 I protested long and loud about the treatment of nervous passengers. This is cut from a longer post.
"A while back a U.S. airline had a luckless passenger that made the mistake of saying that (his friend's) violin?-case, contained a machine gun. It was an obvious reference to the days of Capone, and was the unguarded - and no doubt foolish - words of an ordinary nervous passenger. Bravado shows itself in strange ways, but this does not make this young chap a potential hijacker. When he had gained his freedom, the airline told him that he was banned for life. He is probably still paying back the fine.
The security people, the police and the airline, had no right whatsoever in treating this man as they did. There is no doubt in my mind, that had he had the wherewithal (hard cash ) to take this to the higher echelons of the legal profession, he could have successfully fought, and won, a case on the grounds of violation of human rights. Sending a man to jail - even just police cells - for a nervous joke, is not on."
I'm now not so sure that anyone could be successful in court, the determination of the ‘authorities' to prosecute the innocent is it seems, firmly established. Treatment of this family is cruel and unnecessary.
If, and only if, there are repeated PA warnings–as in ‘do not leave your baggage unattended'–could it be acceptable to treat a family like this for an, albeit foolish, joke.