what really happened?

[justashooter 430]

and some are, which to certain political interests is more trouble:

"12 men of Middle Eastern appearance stood up and began dancing and singing in an Arabic dialect. They refused to be seated when directed to do so by the flight attendants. Then, the singing stopped and some of the men took out their cell phones and began taking pictures of the other individual passengers. Again, the men were ordered to be seated by the flight crew and refused while continuing to take their pictures. Next, the de-boarded passenger related that a few of the men gestured [using their fingers] as imaginary guns, indicating with their triggering action that they would shoot the people on the plane."

snopes is unable to debunk this story, so it must be good. normally they roll right over the truth but this time the wobble left and right like a dingy in a class 4.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/flight297.asp

maybe CAIR can explain this?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

They are not Christians.... so they are innocent.

[slim 1,525]

....ah, if you read all the way down to the bottom it says, "the central issue of interest - the claim that members of the group in question were potential terrorists making a 'dry run' to test security responses - remains unsubstantiated."

This e-mail sounds a lot like the one where the guy was talking about having trauma plates in his vest to stop 7.62 rounds... while working mall security.

I'm not saying it's not true or didn't happen, I'm just saying it sounds pretty far-fetched and the principal actor seems to be tooting his own horn a little. I'm also saying I put my tin-foil hat back in it's holder after reading the first, well, til he got to the "other Texan" part. After that, I was done.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I see, the airline, TSA, law enforcement, the actual passengers on the flight and the media reporting on this incident all conspired to conceal this terrorist "dry run" some dude - that seemingly wasn't even on the flight - has observed first hand. Yeah, that must be it. Get that tin foil out, shooter.

[justashooter 430]

i agree that the "johnny action hero" story is a little far fetched, but the concerted action of a dozen middle eastern men to disrupt a flight remains relatively undisputed. could it be a provocation intended to diminish future resistance to similar actions? sure. could it be a test of the airline's response? sure. could it just be a group of A-hole foreigners who don't know how to function in a civilised world? most certainly.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

i agree that the "johnny action hero" story is a little far fetched, but the concerted action of a dozen middle eastern men to disrupt a flight remains relatively undisputed unsubstantiated.

Fixed that for you. Remember, the only person making this particular claim is an individual that wasn't even on this particular plane. He claims that he has a boarding pass which is true but he couldn't have made the connection. See AirTran's statement below.

After conducting additional research into this situation, we have verified, according to flight manifests (legally binding documents) that the individual that allegedly created a first-hand account of events on-board AirTran Airways flight 297, a Theodore Petruna, was never actually on-board the flight.

According to all available records, Mr. Petruna’s trip originated from Akron-Canton, Ohio (CAK) on AirTran flight 205. This flight arrived at the gate in Atlanta at 5:06 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Flight 297, the flight which Mr. Petruna allegedly wrote a first-hand account of, originally pushed back from its gate in Atlanta at 4:40 p.m. EST, a full 26 minutes before flight 205 arrived at the gate in Atlanta making this flight connection impossible.

While Mr. Petruna was originally scheduled to begin his journey on AirTran flight 202 from CAK and connect to flight 297 in Atlanta he did not make that original flight.

The guy claimed that the flight was cancelled - it wasn't. Again, AirTran released this statement:

The flight was not cancelled and did continue to Houston-Hobby.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

i agree that the "johnny action hero" story is a little far fetched, but the concerted action of a dozen middle eastern men to disrupt a flight remains relatively undisputed unsubstantiated.

Fixed that for you. Remember, the only person making this particular claim is an individual that wasn't even on this particular plane. He claims that he has a boarding pass which is true but he couldn't have made the connection. See AirTran's statement below.

After conducting additional research into this situation, we have verified, according to flight manifests (legally binding documents) that the individual that allegedly created a first-hand account of events on-board AirTran Airways flight 297, a Theodore Petruna, was never actually on-board the flight.

According to all available records, Mr. Petruna's trip originated from Akron-Canton, Ohio (CAK) on AirTran flight 205. This flight arrived at the gate in Atlanta at 5:06 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Flight 297, the flight which Mr. Petruna allegedly wrote a first-hand account of, originally pushed back from its gate in Atlanta at 4:40 p.m. EST, a full 26 minutes before flight 205 arrived at the gate in Atlanta making this flight connection impossible.

While Mr. Petruna was originally scheduled to begin his journey on AirTran flight 202 from CAK and connect to flight 297 in Atlanta he did not make that original flight.

The guy claimed that the flight was cancelled - it wasn't. Again, AirTran released this statement:

The flight was not cancelled and did continue to Houston-Hobby.