| OT - Trip to South Africa [message #73623] |
Thu, 05 October 2006 13:35  |
Tyrone Corbett
Messages: 253
Registered: August 2006
|
Senior Member |
|
|
I did some dates with Will D in South Africa (Johannesburg & Durban). It was
an amazing trip and though we were there to work, I was able to take in a
few sites....the home of Nelson Mandela in Soweto, The Apartheid Museum and
an animal reserve.
The flight was 17 hours, and going there went without incident, but coming
home proved quite disturbing. About 40 minutes into the flight leaving Johannesburg,
I noticed a young man (in a group of about 5) looking around quite nervously,
then proceed to use his cell phone. The plane was sparsely filled, so no
else noticed it. I was about to get a flight attendant, but one happened
upon him and asked him to put the phone away. He did so, but it left an uneasy
feeling none the less.
Once we landed in Dakar (about 8 hours later) the gentlemen de-boarded the
plane and the carrier (or TSA..not sure who) did a massive search of the
plane. They asked us to remove our luggage from the overheads and to move
from our seats. They brought on about 20 workers who checked under the seat
cushions as well as the headrest. Once they reached the area where the gentleman
with the phone was seated, I watched as they pulled a dinner knife from deep
within the headrest. In all, they found 3 dinner knives hidden in the seat
cushions. I am not certain who hid the knives, but that point is mute to
me.
After the search was over, the flight attendant went down the aisle saying
there was a passenger missing who did not de-board the plane in Dakar as
planned. Needless to say, I did not sleep those 17 hours coming home. Upon
my return, I spoke with one of my colleagues who had left the day before
I did and although he did not notice that there were any items found during
the search, he did share that there was a passenger missing at Dakar as well.
Boarding the plane (returning to the US) was the tightest boarding procedure
I have ever witnessed. After having our luggage screened at the security
check point, we had our personal items scanned again at the gate...then were
patted down...then tickets checked again...then given a boarding pass and
finally returning the boarding pass at the door of the plane....yet there
were still discrepancies with passengers being missing landing in Dakar.
Not sure what else to say.
|
|
|
|
The PARIS Forums
Search
Help
Members
Register
Login
Home
