Mutiny on Monarch Airlines!

Article extracted from Daily Mail online

Mutiny as passengers refuse to fly until Asians are removed
By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE and ANDREW CHAPMAN
12:08pm 20th August 2006

British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed.

The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.

Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes before it was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB 613 in the departure lounge refused to board it.

The trouble in Malaga flared last Wednesday as two British citizens in their 20s waited in the departure lounge to board the pre-dawn flight and were heard talking what passengers took to be Arabic. Worries spread after a female passenger said she had heard something that alarmed her.

Initially, six passengers refused to board the flight. On board the aircraft, word reached one family. To the astonishment of cabin crew, they stood up and walked off, followed quickly by others.

The Monarch pilot - a highly experienced captain - accompanied by armed Civil Guard police and airport security staff, approached the two men and took their passports. Half an hour later, police returned and escorted the two Asian passengers off the jet.

Soon afterwards, the aircraft was cleared while police did a thorough security sweep. Nothing was found and the plane took off - three hours late and without the two men on board.

Monarch arranged for the two to spend the rest of the night in an airport hotel and flew them back to Manchester later on Wednesday.

Read Full Article: The Daily Mail

This all sound like a comedy sketch from the film “Airplane”. Monarch Airlines and the pilots of flight ZB 613 should be ashamed of themselves, so should the passengers that remained silent. It was nice to hear that the two passengers remained calm under the circumstances and did not cause trouble.

Yes, we are living in uncomfortable times, but do we have to stoop so low that we cannot trust fellow passengers because of the colour of their skins and because they feel comfortable talking in a language other than English?

Were the two victims not searched rigorously like everyone else at Malaga airport? If the two looked suspect, why were they allowed to board the plane?

The captain as a principle should have told the rebel passengers to find alternative travel arrangements rather than kick the two innocent passengers.

What next? Different flights for Asians and non-Asians? Different terminals at the airports? Different buses, Different parks, Different schooling – could be the beginning of apartheid in Britain? Speak up sensible people, don’t become a silent witness!