What are your rights as an airline passenger?

Are they just consumer rights - compensation for cancelled flights, overbookings, lost luggage?

Before 9/11, that’s what passenger rights meant. For some post-9/11 Democrats, “a flyers’ bill of rights” still means the simple things - access to food and water and getting off the plane if it’s delayed.

But your right to self-defense is the ultimate passenger right. Passengers need the right to report suspicious behavior that foreshadows a terrorist attack, without being sued by CAIR and other Islamist groups. And Congress tried to give passengers that right last month. A bi-partisan, common-sense coalition of 109 Democrats and 199 Republicans passed a motion to prohibit suits against “John Doe” airlline passengers who report suspicious behavior in good faith.

The legislation was in response to the 6 imams’ suit against U.S. Airways that names “John Does” (passengers, flight attendants, airport personnel). The imams had been removed from a November 20, 2006 flight after carefully presenting behavior known to be associated with taking over a plane. The imams followed a careful script of suspicious behaviors that would require a response from airline personnel; and when that response came, they claimed it was due to their religion. Their script was a set-up to get the End to Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) passed.

But the original ERPA doesn’t threaten civilians with lawsuits. Going after the “John Does” was a new twist. Sure, CAIR amended the lawsuit to threaten only passengers who reported “with the intent to discriminate,” with CAIR acting as the thought-police to discern intent. The chilling effect is unchanged.

CAIR is not going to stop unless we stop them. You will need the bi-partisan John Doe motion to protect your right to self-defense. A month ago it seemed like a sure thing, but now it’s in serious danger.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who met with the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt last month, has threatened to bar the John Doe motion when the bill it is part of goes to conference with the Senate. Republicans sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) saying “We cannot afford to wait any longer to protect individuals who seek to do the right thing by speaking up to prevent a terrorist attack.”

In answer, Hoyer’s spokeswoman Stacey Bernards said that the motion to protect passengers was in part “a restatement of current law, and some things are just about political point-scoring that does not have any real substance to them.”

Stacey is wrong. Here’s why:

We are told that it is our duty as citizens to be vigilant. Indeed, that very vigilance is expected, included in the government’s own plans for our defense. As evidence by 2005 testimony of Assistant Secretary for the TSA Kip Hawley before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation:

Then, on the aircraft:

1. Thousands of Federal Air Marshals fly undercover on a very significant number of flights, both domestic and international.
2. Thousands of pilots who undergo special training and become Federal Flight Deck Officers are authorized and ready to protect the cockpit with firearms.
3. Other local, State, and Federal law enforcement officers travel armed as part of their normal duties.
4. Hardened cockpit doors prevent unauthorized access to the flight deck.
5. And, sitting quietly on every airplane, are passengers who remember the courage and commitment of the men and women on United Flight 93.

Passenger, stay alert: the US government is relying on you as the final layer of defense for commerical aviation. And if the John Doe amendment fails, a leg of that security plan will be knocked out. Says Hawley:

The reason is that we have many independent, interlocking layers of security that reinforce each other. Any one of them can be beaten, but together, they are formidable.

To be formidable, America depends on its foundation, where the common sense of its citizens forms the final determinant of their collective security. TSA personnel have a guide that could be a model for citizens to defend themselves - to know the behaviors and signs that give an indication of a terrorist threat: Screening of Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT)

The SPOT program utilizes behavior observation and analysis techniques to identify potentially high-risk passengers. Individuals that exhibit suspicious behaviors, such as physical and physiological reactions, may be required to undergo additional screening.

The SPOT program serves as additional layer of security and is highly beneficial to all modes of transportation security in that it maximizes the effectiveness of TSOs already deployed, and requires no additional specialized screening equipment.

We need a SPOT for passengers, so we know the real signs of suspicious behavior (and yes, the 6 imams would have fit this profile). So far, I can’t find anything for airline passengers, who are both prime targets and the last layer of security.

I can find detailed, and colorful information, including wallet sized cards, telling you what to do if you are a school bus driver, or motor coach driver, or truck driver. There’s even one on suspicious behavior in purchasers of Rental Trucks. But if you’re an airline passenger, nothing.

We need to fix this fast. We have plenty of experts out there who can prepare a simple checklist for passengers. If training is needed, we can develop that - think how many civilians train for CPR every year through the Red Cross. We don’t need every civilian trained - just enough to make it harder for would-be terrorists to pass undetected.
We need a real Passenger Bill of Rights that includes our right to report suspicious behavior.

And we need the bi-partisan John Doe amendment to pass Congress and protect all passengers from CAIR’s lawsuit jihad against the American public.