Written by AA SLF...
>>>Some interesting info in this AP report. Quote from this story: "— he was ordered removed from the flight despite offering to have the Secret Service confirm his identity." Seems to me like it may - repeat - may have been that nobody was willing to confirm who he was. Very interesting, eh? Why?? Would that have raised the "decision point" to to high of a level?<<<
Now SLF, no where does it say in that article that he was willing to have the paperwork corrected. All the verbal OKs in the world even from President Bush himself wouldn't help the problem.
An armed PAX brings the paperwork with him and presents it to the captain. If the paperwork is correct he flies, if it is wrong he does not, PERIOD END OF STORY.
There is no person in the world with the power to verbally authorize an armed passenger on a United States civil aviation flight. The agent in question could have had HIS superiors bring corrected paperwork or whatever, but under no circumstances is a verbal approval authorized.
When the FAA does a safety audit 3 months from now and sees this guys paperwork was incorrect, then the captain gets his license removed, and the airline that carried the agent gets fined by the FAA, not the agent who brought the incorrect paperwork and caused the problem in the first place. That is how things are done, and why the man was ultimately denied boarding.
Cheers
Wino
PS AASLF as an AA pilot, let me just say, thanks for your business.