Frequent Flyer

I've long wondered why with all the resources of the American government and all our ultra- sophisticated military weaponry, we haven't yet captured Osama Bin Laden.That guy.

Now we know why.

Because instead of scouring caves and ravines in the cragged mountains of Afghanistan, we should have been scouring the First Class aisles of British Airways transcontinental flights. You see, that skinny 6-foot 5-inch gray-bearded fellow robed in white, watching the in-flight movie next to you and munching on salted peanuts is... you-know-who.

You haven't run into him yet? You will. He's a frequent flyer.

Or... if that's not true, then someone over at British Airways is having some dark-humored fun with us. Which is it?

The latter according to The Hindustan Times online:

In an embarrassing turn of events, a staff magazine of British Airways carried a front-page photo of Osama Bin Laden, labelling him as a frequent flyer with the airlines.

BA's in-house Heathrow newspaper LHR News showed a photo illustrating a scheme to let passengers receive their boarding pass via their iPhones.

The photo shows a smiling check-in steward greeting a happy passenger while another holds his iPhone up to the camera. A close-up shows a white boarding pass bearing the name Bin Laden/Osama.

To compound BA's embarrassment, the pass also classes the world's most wanted terrorist as a "frequent flyer".

The gaffe doesn't end there - Bin Laden's seat is 7C, which would put him firmly in the luxury of First Class.

"It looks as if BA has been sabotaged most successfully by an internal source," The Daily Express quoted Tory MP Patrick Mercer, who has served as chairman of the House of Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism, as saying.

"While this may be light-hearted, it is worth looking at the serious security implications. It does focus the mind on how much easier our enemies might find it to get a legitimate boarding pass under a system using mobile phones.

"And as the flight on the boarding pass is going to Washington, I have no doubt that this will awaken some extremely painful memories," he added.

A BA spokesman played down any suggestion that there was malicious intent behind the front page of the magazine.

"A mistake has been made in this internal publication. We are working to find out how this occurred."

I don't know if I buy that.

I'm thinking the boarding pass is real, and this story is a part of a vast conspiracy to cover up the truth: that OBL has been jetting around the globe for years, hiding in plain sight.

How else could it be that he's still out there after 10 years?

Comments

  1. "...A mistake has been made...."
    Yup, BA.

    BP, too.

    Gotta love those understated Brits....

    ReplyDelete

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