Honey Trap
 

Having finished flying this moring in MUC around 1000z, I was walking through the terminal to the transport in uniform, i was stopped by a (very attractive) young lady.

She asked me to take a small parcel through security to a friend who had left it behind. (Alarm bells ringing)

After telling her no way and pointing her at the Info desk i looked round to see a camera crew pointing at us.

A bit of a crude attempt, but for chrissakes be careful out there...

This type of journalism is acceptable if and only if they show every refusal as well as the idiots that are willing to take it through. You could and should have frog marched her to the nearest cop. As an alternative shout TWO HUNDERED EUROS! I NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A PRICE!

Wasting the time of airport and airline staff is not acceptable.Prankster journos like this are nothing but a serious distraction to professionals if they stoop to any level for the sake of ratings.:mad:

Two similar stories like fatboy´s, seen yesterday in german tv:
1. Journos prepared a group of good looking young men and ladies with uniforms (completely faked ones, no reference to any existing airline) and the appropriate outlook (hairstyle of the ladies and so on) of an airliners crew.
They made it without any complications until the door of an aircraft (apprxmtl. half an hour before the right crew was exspected).
2. Journos looked out for an attractive (turkish, perfect german language knowledge) young girl.
They asked her to report her passport to be lost to german authorities; she did that.
They asked her to become employee with a an aircraft cleaning company (which should have found out immediately, that there is an employee with a lost/stolen passport, because they have to check that with the authorities).
She got an airport-passport. She got the (orange) jacket of newbees (yellow the others). She got free access to every aircraft until she (inspired by the journos) claimed the aircraft cleaning company has "written her name wrong on her airport-passport" (that was to initiate a new "Check out" of her passport, reported to be lost, because the first one obviously didn´t happen). The only result of that action was: her name on the new "checked" airport passport was written wronger than on the first one.
The journos let her demonstrate to be able to place plastic explosive material (they took this children toy stuff we used decades before, looking exactly like "semtex") in mobiles or even uncovered within the cabin. The journos booked flight on the aircraft and filmed, how they "found" the "bombs".
After four weeks the turkish girl left the company; comment of the journos at the end of the film "they didn´t know until the end of that employment what could have happened . . .".
I aggree with some anger about journos reporting about this complex industrie, but these reports are showing gaps in the security chain. Everyone who has responsability for these aspects within the industry should read and learn.

You don't really have to resort to all that subterfuge to get a bomb on an aircraft. All they manage to prove is that, yet again it's possible to find a way through security. TV always seem to use attractive women though.

Fatboy, it's a pity you didn't spot the camera earlier, you could have grabbed her, (no not there) and called for security. That would have spoiled their day, a few hours questioning and then being flung unceremoniously out of the airport would have been a satisfactory outcome.

She should be arrested for conspiracy....

Steep - the captain was all for hauling her up in front of the law when we realised but imagine the hassle and paperwork etc!!:eek:

Pity! They depend on that reaction. Understandable though. I know one or two Captains of pompous overbearing tempermanet who would enjoy the whole hoopla. Another reaction might be to make a scene and run away screaming 'She's got a bomb'. An MP5 stuck up their noses would cool their enthusiasm.

Imagine if a passenger innocently tried the same thing, their feet wouldn't touch.

Can someone clarify for me what happens when a journalist is caught trying to get past security with knifes, replica guns, etc. and is caught are they not prosecuted?
The cop out of I'm a journalist on an assignment to see if your doing your jobs surely cant be legal?

As a minimum they should have been reported to the Airport authorities who would have been within their right to demand they leave the premises.

Probably not an option unless the package contained something unpleasant. If not then what are you going to charge them with? Possession of marzipan?

The point is you're not supposed to take anything on a flight from anyone you don't know.

While I understand that check-in staff have to ask the same questions about 'Who packed your bag' and 'Did anyone give you anything to take on board' a thousand times a day, it worries me that they don't seem to stress the importance of the question. Makes me wonder how many passengers genuinely stop to think before answering.

Very true Koncordski.

"Could anyone of interfered with your bag since it was packed?"

Stock answer. "No."

Reality. "Yes" - The hotel porter while it was in the baggage room. Someone in the office while it was unattended beside my desk. Someone on the train while it was on the HEX luggage rack................

I would guess that a huge majority of bags that go through airports every day have been out of sight of the pax at some time since they packed them.

I believe the habit is dying out now but at one time crew would leave their packed bag outside their room door ready for collection by hotel staff.

All it would take is for a terrorist to be in a room on the same floor, grab a bag as soon as it was put outside, back to his room, load it with a bomb and replace it - all within minutes.

Do any airlines still allow their crew to leave their bags outside their rooms?

As far as PAX are concerned the answer must be Yes sometimes.

For example, I have to check out of the hotel in the morning. My overnight case sits under the desk all day at the client's premises. I leave the desk for meals and breaks and meetings. It is locked - for what those puny locks are worth.

When asked the question, I say that it was attended.

Why?
Because the chances of someone being inside that building AND spotting an overnight bag AND finding out that it is going on an aircraft AND putting something nasty in it ??? So, when I put my papers and PC away, I have a quick flip through to see if there is 'jokey' stuff from a colleague.

Not ideal, I know.

BlueEagle I don't think it would be wise of anyone to answer your question on an open forum.

Don't you sometimes wonder if many of the attractive tv station personalities who enjoy discussing disasters in front of the camera, are actually just frustrated actresses? One of the former tv "ladies" (and I use that term loosely) in this city is now with a national network; the body language with which she pranced around at our airport terminal with "her" camera crew during a labor action left us wondering how stuck up ( in Munchen: eingebildet?) some of these types really are. Many of them could be nice people.

But some seem to believe that they have potential in Hollywood-however it might be limited to that of Asia Carrera [ :) ]on "Spectravision". Hello Dow-Corning products.

Next time anybody sees a camera crew trying such a cheap, crude stunt, it should be passed along to everyone within sight. Those media personnel with integrity would not take part in it.

One reason I always (pre-9/11) used to take just a small 'cabin compatible' overnight bag was that I could guarantee it wouldn't be out of my sight from packing to unpacking!

But now that even the most innocent item can be claimed by the bottom-fondling failed-wheelclampers as being prohibited, everything goes in the hold. So now when I collect my bag at the baggage carousel, I've no idea where it's been, what's been stolen or what's been planted.............

Maybe she (reporter) was actually a terrorist, posing as a reporter, with the intent of getting something through. When you realize the cameras are there you decide it is a 'probe' and walk away--still unaware ;)

Yup, as said above, cry BOMB and see how they like the gun/search treatment. Make great footage too--if they happen to actually be reporters (I never call them journalists because I think it would be an insult to real journalists).

Here's a philosophical question:

I seem to remember that a campaigner for the Lockerbie bombing victims tried to take a replica cassette-bomb through airport security to demonstrate weakness in the system.

Is this attempt to expose flaws to the general public more acceptable, or less, than a reporter's?

Chloride, I would suggest there is a fundamental difference between controlled and organised testing of airport security, which is conducted regularly by the airport companies and the DoT, and the sheer drama value of a splash on the evening news or local rag. Quite where the Lockerbie campaigner fits into this is definitely a shade of grey.