Sometimes I wonder what had happened to my profession
 

Easy jet captain refuses to carry a Christian who has a prayer app on his Phone.

Man removed from UK flight over 'prayer' message on phone | UK news | The Guardian

Having heard Ali G on the wireless today and after reading the article the phrase "is It cos I is Black?" comes to mind.
:ugh:
A disgrace

Being the Gruniad, the page won't load properly for me, but my first reaction is John 11.35.

We have already said it enough times on these pages, the terrorists ARE winning.......without even trying!

Ye gods, what a load of offensive halfwits.

Not that we're short of them.

Personally I subscribe to no religion, and regard most of the blighters with mild suspicion, but stopping people from travelling is exactly the sort of persecution that creates terrorism.

G

another devout atheist glad to forgo the sacrament . .. .. . . that's been a good enough creed for me too Genge . .. stop the world .. I want to get off

What about the guy who started all this? Where's he and what about a civil case against him; as he was proved wrong. This BS is astonishing. It was not too long ago, in UK, that a lady worker was sacked because she refused to remove a crucifix while at work.
So what does a C of E priest have to do? take off his dog-collar when not in church? And the flock of nuns boarding a flight? Are they provocative? More likely they'll scratch your eyes out if you question their devote ethics.
Can't wait for the Druids and Franciscan friars to have a group booking together.
And what would you do if a bunch of Arsenal supporters in full kit, and a bunch of Spurs supporters in full kit wanted to travel to Manchester on the same flight because one was playing at United and the other at City. What a powder keg that might be. What would you do if a pax complained that he was a Chelsea man and refused to travel for safety reasons?
It reminds me of a story about a long-haul flight. The middle front row of economy had 3 seats. There was an old lady in one aisle seat and a pompous business man in the other, the centre was empty. The business man kept asking for an upgrade; he said he had much work to do and need space to spread his papers and...and....and. After enough of this BS the purser invited the old lady to business class and said the guy now had 3 seats and enough room.
So the captain could ask all those who did not want to travel with this security cleared pax, who was behaving calmly and correctly, to leave the a/c.
Find me another country where flying the national flag is considered provocation. Maybe Donald T should apply to sort out England. (Ha, tongue in cheek)

This unfortunate incident could have been avoided if the affected passenger had switched of his mobile before boarding as most of us do.:)

it is funny to see that when about 60% of population in Uk are christians. lol
If now christians arrest each other, bravo les gars, keep going ! good luck to your society.

It is not about the profession, it is just about human being and how they have changed due to terrorism.

Is a vicar removing his dog collar out of church similar to a pilot removing their gold bars before leaving the airport?

G

A Nigerian-born British business analyst. The Guardian doesn't mention if he had a beard and wore a djellaba as people often do in Northern Nigeria. An unlikely outfit by the standards of the business analyst's etiquette. Whatever. Another victim of today's freaked citizen-pax, keen and quick on any kind of amalgam of fear of flying, racial and religious clichés and antiterror propaganda. What a beautiful world ! :ugh:

As the size of the aviation industry has boomed over the last 15 years then so has the number of pilots and therefore the "variety" and perhaps "quality" too.
"Bus driver with a haircut" used to be a phrase used as a bit of a sharp dig at pilots. Now its become very ironic.
"God" has no place on any flightdeck.

[QUOTE=God" has no place on any flightdeck.[/QUOTE]

Good job you weren't flying in early BOAC days then.

There was a joke about the psychiatrist who died and went to Heaven being met by St Peter at the door, who said " Glad you've come, we're having a bit of trouble with God, he thinks he's a BOAC Captain.

I have a simple belief system...
I am a dyslexic agnostic insomniac...
I lie awake at night and wonder if there is a doG.

Christian-bashing on PPrune. How novel.

especially, it is not this religion to bash, don't aim at the wrong target...

It doesn't appear that anyone here knows the true facts; it is unlikely that the captain made the decision lightly. So many experts coming to conclusions based on no information...

Obviously, you don't fly much these days.

It's not obvious to me that the Captain made the decision at-all. It reads to me that this decision was made before the aircraft

G

Looks to me like a bit of profiling which was wrong.
Doesn't mean it'll be wrong next time. If you are suspicious then speak up!

So that we can:
We may live in the kind of democracy where idiots can do the terrorists job for them, but it obviously needs pointing out (again..) that you leave this democracy behind at the doors of an aircraft.

A search, within the provisions of the already over stringent security rules will indeed have been conducted, but not to satisfy the blind xenophobia of some uneducated nutters. And I use the term advisedly, as (if the report is correct) even when the situation was explained to them, at least one passenger was still reluctant to fly. So maybe uneducateable is a better term.
I find wry amusement at the plight of the self-unloaders who found themselves several hours later in the same boat, as it were.

@Herod: John 11.35! Tee Hee!

No.
It is entirely different.

Yep: I assume a vicar is 'on duty' 24/7 and a pilot is only god for a few hours each day. ;)

Well, you can sit there but I like to think that, if I see something suspicious, I will bring it to the attention of the crew and, one hopes, let the PiC decide.

I agree entirely.
Especially if the PiC draws on experience, guidelines, home office info, intel and common sense. And not prejudice or ignorance.

I dread to think how these idiots would react if they picked up an FCOM and discovered what Airbus have called the new generation standby instrument.

Consol, Hah! Very droll :D

16024, Just saw another report where a couple of women were chucked off for giving cabin crew a funny look.
If only I could have done that; half of my trainers would have gone :}

When one looks more closely at report it is not quite as crazy as one might think. What the other passenger knew was that a group called ISI to which his fellow passenger belonged was organising a prayer group at around the time of take off. Not totally impossible to understand his concern

And flagging his concern is fine.

Then organising other pax to demand he's put off the aeroplane, is not.

G

Back in BOAC 747 days we used to get Jews and Muslims asking to say their prayers at sunrise across the Atlantic. They were guided to the crew rest seats by door 5R and they dressed appropriately for the 'occasion'. Does that still happen?

I know a girl called Isis. Better not text her. Ever.

Pointed out to my sim trainees the other day that it is called ISIS.....told them that, because of this, it needed renaming. I mooted Digital Authority Electronic Speed and Heading.......no, wait.....

Captainsmiffy, I came across an optician's in Fulham, London with the same identity problem. Not sure if they have renamed yet.

I'm surprised that so many think this is an odd reaction.
A very foreign looking person is trying to raise a "conference prayer" (!!!) call on an app immediately before a flight and the app is seen to be called ISI****

I think that behaviour and the ISI caption is sufficiently weird to warrant immediate investigation.

The Capt's refusal to allow him to reboard seems on the face of it a bit OTT but if an number of other pax had abandoned the flight due to their concerns, as seems to have been the case, he would have legitimate worries that the reappearance of this person might precipitate a mass exodus. I'm not saying he was right, but I think there's a rationale there that is not completely unreasonable. It certainly doesn't look racist, bigoted or some of the other nasty names appended above.
Where would he be had he allowed the fella back on and everyone else had gotten off? Up a very similar creek I suspect. One of those Captaincy calls we all hope not to have to make too often. I feel for him.

A lesson that Mr Conference Prayer might learn is don't do bizarre religious things on or near aircraft. I think most Europeans would regard public prayer in that environment as odd but doing it with others on a conference call is way beyond what most would expect and possibly beyond what they'll tolerate. We are, after all, constantly being told to be alert for oddball behaviour and this is guaranteed to set off warning bells.

Shame the press have to make someone a scapegoat just to sell their lousy rag.

On the side of the angels......

I agree with the Captain.

Apparently this guy was trying to do a 'Conference call prayer' on his phone sitting on Commercial Jet Transport, next to other Passengers.

If your religion demands you have to pray at a certain time. Don't Air travel during that time.
Go do your praying at home or your church, mosque, whatever.

He was removed for actions not considered normal for the time and place where he was and quite rightly too.

Bet you he doesn't do it again on Easyjet!

The Captain has sole responsibility for the safe conduct of the flight. He exercise his Command authority.

Hold your head up high Captain.

Who defines what is considered normal?

If people want to get together, in ways now possible thanks to technology, and talk to their imaginary friend that's their business.

If you're religion (which is a lifestyle choice, no different to being a vegetarian) and said religion dictates certain things, then you need to do an assessment as to wether or not a product meets your demand a needs. If it doesn't, then it's time to assess what alternatives there are.

If you can't sit next to a female, buy an extra seat next to you. If you can be served by a woman on her period, buy something in Boots at the terminal. You know I worked in a shop for years and never heard of a colleague being asked if she's 'on'. But get someone into the airline environment and they demand to know the intimate details of someone.

If you need to partake in prayers inflight, research the type of jet and its facilities. Don't demand all crew vacate a busy galley so you can engage in prayer to a god that you choose to follow.

And, if you can't get on a plane without doing a group chat or prayer, might one suggest the ferry, Eurolines, Megabus, FLIXBUS, Ouibus or Eurostar?

And here we go again...
 

And here we go again, for better or worse, this is going to keep happening as people get twitchy. Granted there are two sides to all these.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3511288/EasyJet-flight-Vienna-London-halted-ISIS-scare.html

Two most interesting things about the last incident & I'm sure this one too:

People seem most offended by party A snooping at party B's phone, this is not illegal & happens every day on the tube. On the scale of things we all need to learn...this is not one.

People are then outraged by the fact that 'pilot would not let suspect back on' - no wonder, flight would have left well before the questioning had finished. There is no leeway for 'disruption' and of course you'll be getting the next one...if allowed on your way.