Reply #70: thanks for the link -

[sui generis]

and for your levelheadedness - appreciated. I'm not trying to be contentious either - just stating that like other professionals I also make snap decisions based on the information available to me, right or wrong remains to be seen.

BTW this is twice I've been obliquely accused of monday morning quarterbacking today - kind of funny ;). You do seem quite understanding and you are correct that there are more facts to be discovered about this.

What rubbed me wrong at 5:00 a.m. today was the interview with the passenger who said she was sitting next to a captain deadheading back to station who told her that the guy in front of her was an air marshall. All of a sudden things seemed a bit contrived, as I'm sure your son in law would explain; no personnel on an aircraft should be voluntarily pointing out the AMs. After that I just added a bucket of salt to what I was hearing, and who claimed to have said it.

It's a tragedy - doubtless. However, with Senator Kennedy from Massachussetts being barred from flying because he was on the terrorist watch list, and with my SO similarly detained on every flight for additional searching (and he's an aircraft carrier Navy Lt Cdr) I have to wonder about the effectiveness of the system that claims to be looking out for our best interests when it can make mistakes so easily and with so little recourse to correct them.

So I'm probably a little less neutral than I should be. As you basically said though, not all the cards are accounted for yet.