And I now have another important question... Is there a link between my experience on flight #327 and the arrest of Ali Mohamed Almosaleh by customs agents at the Minneapolis Airport on July 7 (approximately one week after my flight)?  Almosaleh was traveling from Damascus, Syria, to Minneapolis on KLM/Northwest Airlines.  According to CNN.com, "Agents found Almosaleh to be carrying what they described as a suicide note and DVDs containing anti-American material." 

It was initially reported by CNN.com that the man "is not known to the intelligence community, and that his name was not on any terrorist watch list."  The following day, on TwinCities.com, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that Almosaleh "had something with him indicating a connection with at least one known terrorist."  So, did a more thorough check of the man reveal this critical new information?  Remember, according to Adams, FAM checked the 14 Syrian men on my flight against the terrorist watch lists.  They found no match, so they let them go. I wonder what might have happened if the 14 Syrians on my flight had been looked into more thoroughly? 

Since publishing the first article, I have received dozens of emails from people in the airline industry, including flight attendants, captains and pilots, some of whom I have also spoken with on the telephone.  As of Sunday morning, to my knowledge, WWS had received no emails from anyone in the airline industry suggesting that the incident described in my first article did not happen. Here is what some of them are saying, all of it on the record. 

Jeanne M. Elliott, Security Coordinator for the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA), which represents the flight attendants of Northwest Airlines, said, "By the uneducated eye, and to those who don't walk in our shoes, it may have been perceived that we were doing nothing, when indeed we were putting the safety and security of those passengers as our first priority."

In a letter sent to WWS, she also states, "...the needs of this nation's flight attendants to adequately perform aviation security functions have been delayed and/or ignored." (Click here to read Elliot's letter in its entirety.)

More


WomensWallStreet.com is the leading online source of financial news and information for women. To receive any follow-up articles about Annie's experience, click HERE to register. It’s free, it’s easy, and you will automatically receive an e-mail notifying you of any subsequent articles on this subject.