Just in the last month ETA placed some explosive devices on TGV (high speed train ) lines in France, in appreciation of the enhanced cooperation Sarkozy offers to Spain. There were warnings ( this time
) but it is obviously a ridiculously easy target as it would be impossible to police the thousands of km of lines. Fortunately, in the past when these types of trains have gone bush ,they have, by virtue of their design ,tended to stay upright thereby avoiding the level of carnage when older trains fell off in all directions.
Along with the Metro in London/ Paris or wherever, the situation I always felt vulnerable in was when using the channel-tunnel, another easy enough target. You would like to think with all these other alternatives avail they would lay off aircraft, but nothing quite makes the headlines as much as a pile of smouldering aluminium and a big hole in the ground even if they can't now place the hole where they want it with the ease of pre 9/11.
I too lived the "open cockpit door" epoque, and many a boring long charter was enhanced by charming company sourced from the cabin. As a previous poster said, great thing for a young lad to have a yummy-mummy if he wants to see the cockpit. Alas, no more milfs for us now, and I suppose thinking back, we did leave ourself vulnerable to any nut-case that asked to come in. A few times we have had visitors who were a sandwich short of a picnic, and afterwards discussed that we had been quite happy to let that one go and let another more normal one in, but I don't think anyone in their darkest nightmares could have come up with the box-cutter followed by re-routing to the 35th floor scenario.
Sad these innocent times are long gone, but they are, and like so many other things in life that suck, we just have to live with it and cherish the memories.