Why Arent All Airlines Like El Al?

stainluss

Airport security measures
Passengers are asked to report three hours before departure. All El Al terminals around the world are closely monitored for security. There are plain-clothes agents and fully armed police or military personnel who patrol the premises for explosives, suspicious behavior, and other threats. Inside the terminal, passengers and their baggage are checked by a trained team. El Al security procedures require that all passengers be interviewed individually prior to boarding, allowing El Al staff to identify possible security threats. Passengers will be asked questions about where they are coming from, the reason for their trip, their job or occupation, and whether they have packed their bags themselves. The likelihood of potential terrorists remaining calm under such questioning is believed to be low (see microexpression).[37]

At the check-in counter, passengers' passports and tickets are closely examined. A ticket without a sticker from the security checkers will not be accepted. At passport control passengers' names are checked against information from the FBI, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Scotland Yard, Shin Bet, and Interpol databases. Luggage is screened and sometimes hand searched. In addition, bags are put through a decompression chamber simulating pressures during flight that could trigger explosives.[38] El Al is the only airline in the world that passes all luggage through such a chamber.[39] Even at overseas airports, El Al security agents conduct all luggage searches personally, even if they are supervised by government or private security firms.[40]

Flight security measures

An El Al Boeing 777 landing at London Heathrow Airport, England. (2005)Undercover agents (sometimes referred to as sky marshals) carrying concealed firearms sit among the passengers on every international El Al flight.[41] All El Al pilots are former Israeli Air Force pilots.[42] The cockpits in all El Al aircraft have double doors to prevent entry by unauthorized persons. A code is required to access the doors, and the second door will only be opened after the first has closed and the person has been identified by the captain or first officer.[42] Furthermore, there are reinforced steel floors separating the passenger cabin from the baggage hold.[43]

Following an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in 2002,[44] all aircraft in the fleet have been equipped with an infrared countermeasures system called Flight Guard, developed by Israeli Aerospace Industries to defend them against anti-aircraft missiles.[45][46][47][48] Although comparable systems such as CAMPS are now available for civilian aircraft, there is no information to date about any other airlines deploying such a system. Switzerland and other European countries have expressed concern that flares dropped by the Israeli system could cause fires in the vicinity of an airport.[49] However none of the higher risk countries that El Al aircraft fly to have raised any concerns.

It would be much safer

Fratton Fred

Try flying with El Al and you may change your mind.

You take all your bags to the gate and check them in there, after you have been interrogated by Mossad agents.

I flew back with El Al from Ovda and there was a charter flight leaving at the same time. Someone checking in on that flight joked about being in Hamas and the whole flight had to collect their luggage and check in again. It delayed their flight by 6 hours.

EchoIndia

This kind of stuff has been reported about El Al for years and while some is undoubtedly largely true, I doubt that all of it is. It no doubt suits the airline to keep people guessing.

In particular I find the bit about "reinforced steel floors" a bit hard to believe. What weight and perfomance penalty would be associated with this, if it were even allowable from a certification point of view? Also, the bit about decompression chambers could at best apply only to airports where El Al had a substantial presence and operated its own security - probably mostly in Israel itself.

Aka Ishur

Stupid point to make. In any airport in the western world, if you made a joke about terrorism links/bombs/gun in a violin case..you wouldn't have a delayed flight, you'd be arrested and questioned.

stainluss

EchoIndia wrote: »

In particular I find the bit about "reinforced steel floors" a bit hard to believe. Also, the bit about decompression chambers could at best apply only to airports where El Al had a substantial presence and operated its own security - probably mostly in Israel itself.

Ya tbh i dont see these things being that useful, that wouldnt deter terrorism completely.

What struck me is the armed undercover agents on board and at airports, maybe these should be put on all transatlantic flights?

From looking at their record these guys have stopped 2 or 3 atrocities from occuring (once again, wikipedia:p)

I do understand that Isreili flights are under more threat, but if those things had happened on Aer Lingus or BA i shudder to think of the consequences..

Fratton Fred

Aka Ishur wrote: »

Stupid point to make. In any airport in the western world, if you made a joke about terrorism links/bombs/gun in a violin case..you wouldn't have a delayed flight, you'd be arrested and questioned.

Why was it stupid? The difference is pretty obvious isn't it? Do it in Dublin airport you get arrested and bollocked, do it in Israel and they re-do security for the whole flight.

Seems like a perfectly reasonable point to me.

Fratton Fred

Incidentally, have you seen Heathrow when an El Al flight is checking in? That's when you see all the armed police at the drop off zone.

You really have to fly with them to understand what it is like.

The worst thing though, is that they are "Dry" fights (or mine were)

donkey balls

EchoIndia wrote: »

This kind of stuff has been reported about El Al for years and while some is undoubtedly largely true, I doubt that all of it is. It no doubt suits the airline to keep people guessing.

In particular I find the bit about "reinforced steel floors" a bit hard to believe. What weight and perfomance penalty would be associated with this, if it were even allowable from a certification point of view? Also, the bit about decompression chambers could at best apply only to airports where El Al had a substantial presence and operated its own security - probably mostly in Israel itself.

i can confirm for definte that they use the decompression chambers outside of Israel,they also use profilers and other security measures that i wont go into.:)
tbh you would never catch me flying with them for other reasons that i wont go into.

stainluss

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Incidentally, have you seen Heathrow when an El Al flight is checking in? That's when you see all the armed police at the drop off zone.

You really have to fly with them to understand what it is like.

It sounds great:)

Only problem is, to get anywere you must go through Tel Aviv from Ireland:(

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Why was it stupid? The difference is pretty obvious isn't it? Do it in Dublin airport you get arrested and bollocked, do it in Israel and they re-do security for the whole flight.

Israel is at war, though.

stainluss

donkey balls wrote: »

tbh you would never catch me flying with them for other reasons that i wont go into.

But not security reasons?

donkey balls

stainluss wrote: »

But not security reasons?

nope, actually i should have said you would never see me going to Israel full stop.

Plowman

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stainluss

Plowman wrote: »

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Better than another 9/11. I think there are some who wouldnt fly now due to terrorism, this could make them feel safer.

andy_g

stainluss wrote: »

Better than another 9/11. I think there are some who wouldnt fly now due to terrorism, this could make them feel safer.

it may make pax feel safer but tbh if all airlines brought in that sort of security measures the airline industry would fairly quickly die due to bad delays costing the airlines.

Just my 2cents on it

Plowman

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Our man in Havana

Many airlines particularly in the middle east do have individual passenger interviews.

andy_g

Bond-007 wrote: »

Many airlines particularly in the middle east do have individual passenger interviews.

I fully agree turkish airlines do it to some degree in dublin i remember that from when i worked in aviance a few years ago.

Run_to_da_hills

I flew from Ben Gurion Airport to Heathrow in the 80ies before all this security hassle came about and it was a nightmare back then. That was with BA, 3 hours of interrogation. No thanks.

andy_g

yeah in the 80s and early 90s you were,nt allowed to check-in prior to one hours coming back to ireland if i remember that correctly. and it was due to the troubles in the north.

so yeah letd go back to those times *ehem* not

yermandan

I remember heading to LAX ON July 4th, 2002, to get a flight home. Just before we got to the terminal, news came through that a passenger queuing up for his EL-AL flight to Israel pulled a gun, shot the check-in agent between the eyes and shot others in the queue also.

Their ticket-desk was right across from the EI check-in desk.

So glad I didnt go to the airport earlier. Never would I ever fly with them..

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/07/04/la.airport.shooting/

EDIT: It appears he was queuing at the ticket-desk. Not that it makes much difference!

probe

Why isn't every country like Israel? Breeding hatred among residents and neighbouring states. We wouldn't need Israeli-like security paranoia in the EU with the stupid 1dl bottle of water rations, etc, if we didn't allow Israeli-like terrorist states to become members of the EU.

Airport security is like aspirin for a toothache. The real solution for aviation security is for countries to stop invading and abusing other countries and causing misery to populations of other countries based on their oil reserves, race, religious beliefs, etc.

A bit of global respect for fellow humankind and air travel could become pleasant again.

Air travel is far more pleasant within Asia for this reason.

andy_g

probe wrote: »

Why isn't every country like Israel? Breeding hatred among residents and neighbouring states. We wouldn't need Israeli-like security paranoia in the EU with the stupid 1dl bottle of water rations, etc, if we didn't allow Israeli-like terrorist states to become members of the EU.

Airport security is like aspirin for a toothache. The real solution for aviation security is for countries to stop invading and abusing other countries and causing misery to populations of other countries based on their oil reserves, race, religious beliefs, etc.

A bit of global respect for fellow humankind and air travel could become pleasant again.

Air travel is far more pleasant within Asia for this reason.

*nominates probe for the Nobel peace prize*

In all seriousness airport security will get worse with the times until it returns to a semi-normal state. look at full body scanners in one way i dont agree with them in others i do.

probe

andy_g wrote: »

*nominates probe for the Nobel peace prize*

In all seriousness airport security will get worse with the times until it returns to a semi-normal state. look at full body scanners in one way i dont agree with them in others i do.

It will get worse while people put up with it getting worse. I have no problem with legitimate necessary security action. I have no time for playacting "Security Theatre"..... or these lethal body scanning backscatter x-ray machines that will bubble up cancer rates when enforced on large numbers of the travelling population.