re: #329 realwest

I don’t know any such thing. I wasn’t there. The Air Marshals were and the crew was and the airline booted ‘em off the plane.
Barring further evidence, I’d still hold off on blaming either the airline or the TSA.
And of course there are contra-indicators as to this entire incident being made up.
So I would definitely hold off judging the Airline and the TSA at all right now.

Good point - had this been a very simple misunderstanding with no basis whatsoever for concern the air marshalls would not have notified the police in the airport and would have talked to the pilot with everyone going on their merry way. You have to act like a real asshole for the pilot to order you off. The article mentions an “escalation” so I think it is fair to speculate that our “religious conference travelers” saw fit to protest when they were asked about their comments by the crew.