Another air passenger gets "profiled"

Seth Stein, a UK British Jewish architect, was pounced by a fellow passenger an hour into the flight. As he settled down with a book and a ginger ale, the father-of-three was grabbed from behind and held in a head-lock.

The other passenger allegedly stated that he was Michael Wilk, and was with the New York Police Department, and told Seth that he was acting suspiciously and should stay calm. He then went ahead and took Mr. Stein's passport and iPod.

UK Independent - Humiliation at 33,000 feet: Top British architect tells of terror 'arrest'

The cabin crew and the captain of the aircraft had to do a security check, which ultimately cleared him. After this was made known, the so called NYPD passenger went back to his seat.

One strange fact is that this Michael Wilk was certainly on the NYPD's official register of officers, but he retired 25 years ago. Officials told the designer that he may have worked for another law enforcement agency but have refused to say which one.

While it may be alright for passengers to take proactive precautions to "protect" the rest of the crew and people on the plane, it could proved disastrous if a "innocent" passenger reacts violently to be judged a terrorist. Now, of course, we must do what is necessary to protect ourselves but we must act with common sense and not act unilaterally.

If you do happen to see a passenger acting suspicious during the flight, alert a member of the flight crew. This is the most sensible and often first step that needs to be taken. Obviously, if you do see a passenger about to do something that could hurt any passenger or the damage the plane itself, then your "survival" instinct would kick in.

I see this becoming a problem especially with paranoid passengers that believe that anyone who is "foreign-looking" is automatically suspect. I could imagine, along the most extreme case, of a racist passenger asking that every non-white person be double-checked with security. This could definitely happen, no matter how unlikely!

Also in the news article, there is a tendency of passengers to immediately think terrorist before everything else. Earlier this month, a plane from London to Washington, D.C. made an emergency landing, after passengers alerted crew to the behaviour of a female traveller. It turns out she had a panic attack.