Fly At Your Own Risk: Mishandled Threats On Planes

Airline Employees Are Concerned That Passenger Safety Is Not The First Concern Get breaking news alerts

Source: CBS
Author: Dave Savini

Threats on one major air carrier are raising concerns among airline employees and terrorism experts about how airlines are conducting security sweeps.

Flight attendants are raising the alarm after a written bomb threat was found on a recent United Airlines flight, while bullet casings were discovered on another plane in 2004.

"I feel like the public needs to know how our planes are managed, how we deal with bomb threats," says United flight attendant Kathy Browne.

Browne says she recently learned first-hand how some security threats are handled. On Oct. 5, she was working a flight from O'Hare International Airport to Spokane, Wash., when she learned that the airplane had been threatened with a bomb. A handwritten note had been found in one of the seat pockets.

The crew she says was told bomb-sniffing dogs cleared the aircraft before take-off. She later learned that wasn't true. Browne says it was the cleaning crew that searched for any threats.

"We simply wanted to have that plane properly searched," she says.

CBS 2 obtained a confidential United Airlines security report written by the flight's captain. It reveals a troubling story about a flight crew in turmoil because of the airline's handling of the threat.

The report describes that flight attendants were "crying" and the pilot was "shocked."

The report was written by the flight's captain. He says he was told bomb-sniffing dogs inspected the plane and it was cleared. Then he writes, "Upon further investigation we found this to be untrue. The [flight attendants'] supervisor even stated we were being deliberately duped."

In the report, the captain says the plane was checked by the cleaning crew under the eye of Transportation Security Administration.

"Neither of these two groups inspires confidence in our efforts," he writes. "I need to know, is this how we handle bomb threats? Or was this a smoke and mirrors effort to get the flight out?''

A former member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and a former security official for another airline says the incident is alarming.

"I am in law enforcement, and I am shocked," says Mike Brooks. "It's unthinkable to lie to him and have had only a cleaning crew go in and do the security sweep. That's unbelievable to me."

In response to the captain's report, United spokesperson Robin Urbanski, in a written statement said, "The safety of our customers and employees is our absolute top priority. We always encourage our employees to report their safety concerns directly or anonymously to us or the authorities for a complete investigation."

She also said passengers were never in any jeopardy and there may have been a miscommunication among United Airline employees about the use of bomb-sniffing dogs.

However this wasn't the first incident that angered United crews.

In July 2004, .22-caliber bullet casings were found on an airplane headed to Chicago.

An angered flight attendant wrote about the incident on an online website for airline complaints. "We were told that the cleaners were going to give the plane a 'security sweep.' That's right, the cleaners! They were on the plane for less than 10 minutes."

Urbanski, the United spokesman, says that aircraft was swept by airline authorities and that United followed all TSA procedures.

"The captain and first officer were comfortable taking the flight after they and the security personnel assessed that there was not a threat," she said.

Brooks believes the security sweep should have been done differently.

"That plane should have been gone over by law enforcement personnel, period," he said.

The captain who wrote the security report following the October bomb threat also questions the airliner's use of cleaning crews during security threats.

In his report he asks, "Are these people trained in counter/anti terrorism measures? I doubt having a [worker] clean the plane would qualify as an effective effort in the passenger's mind."

Scrub Inc. is the private Chicago-based company used by United Airlines to clean, vacuum and sanitize airplanes.

Company spokesman Mark Rathke says, "I am not aware of any incident of a bomb threat where we were called out and searched a plane."

Rathke does say workers are given one day of training on searching airplanes. Part of that includes watching videos provided by United Airlines. He says employees also, "are given extensive training on searching for dangerous items and they are given monetary bonuses and Jewel gift certificates if they find items."

According to Rathke, the company hires its employees from the Chicago area along with people visiting the United States with temporary work visas.

"All of our employees are FBI fingerprinted and they all have the proper legal documents to work," he says.

There is something else about all airline cleaners that disturbs Brooks, the former security expert. Not all of them pass through security checkpoints, yet they have free access to airplanes.

One high profile case was the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847 from Athens to Rome. Cleaning crews reportedly smuggled guns and grenades on board that aircraft. A United States Naval Officer was killed.

"Could they bring a handgun? They have," Brooks says.

Rathke confirmed Scrub Inc. employees entering into the airport's back employee parking lot are not routinely screened.

Scrub Inc. is not the only private company cleaning airplanes.

Another is called Prospect Airport Services located in Des Plaines. That company in the past hired a Des Plaines man now on trial for being an Iraqi spy. Other former employees were arrested in Detroit for having fake social security numbers.

Tom Murphy, an attorney for the company, says, "Prospect has very few incidents with illegal documentation considering the size of the company."

"Everybody who gets hired has to go through a criminal background check by the federal government and Prospect. Whatever was in his (the alleged Iraqi spy) background it obviously slipped through."

Flight attendant Kathy Browne believes security needs to be tightened and security sweeps need to be done by law enforcement.

"It was morally wrong," she says about the flight her crew took out following the bomb threat. "We jeopardized lives in order to get the flight out."

Browne says she stayed on that flight because she was told had she not, she would have been fired.

"People need to be aware of this," says Browne. "I believe that things like this should not be hidden."