Down the List

I was reading an article on the CBS New York affiliate’s web page about the baggage theft problems at JFK International Airport, and reflecting that there are so many ways that this is bad that the average person probably won’t make it all of the way down the list before he or she gives up and moves on to the next story. Every experienced traveler already knows that sometimes your bags don’t make it to your final destination, and that if there is anything you absolutely can’t replace you shouldn’t put it in your checked baggage; in extreme cases this has resulting in airlines “losing” things (like dogs and cats) that are unique or irreplaceable. This is particularly upsetting considering the massive increases in security and taxpayer expense since 9/11, and the corresponding increases in discomfort, delay and invasive searches associated with air travel, but what’s even more upsetting is that this isn’t the worst part of the situation…

The potential for future terrorist incursions (as referenced in the linked story) is actually considerably worse; the authors are correct in pointing out that if dozens of random thieves can make off with items stolen from checked baggage in secure areas then the same thieves could easily introduce items (bombs, for example) into airline checked baggage in the same fashion. If there really are 200 such thefts a day at JFK, and heaven only knows how many more occurring at the nation’s other airports then an enemy could completely destroy the U.S. air network with just a handful of teams; one dirty bomb in each airport (or just one large conventional bomb under each terminal) would make it impossible for that airport to function at all for months, and the repairs needed to resume safe passenger service would take even longer…

Now, compared with all of these problems and their attendant financial, legal, civil rights and law enforcement complications, the welfare of the individual companies involved seems like a very small concern indeed – unless you employed by or heavily invested in one of the companies involved. If a single airplane or building is destroyed because one of your employees smuggled something explosive onto the airport grounds the Federal law enforcement officials will take a lot of heat, but there’s no doubt that any of your customers (or their heirs) who where harmed in the attack will sue you as well, and there’s certainly a good chance that the FAA or the FBI will bring criminal charges against anyone in your company who could have prevented such an outrage and failed to do so. You might be able to fend some of it off, considering that having one of your employees involved in a mass-murder plot isn’t something most business people have to worry about, but that defense will most likely crumble when the court hears that many of the thefts were going on in the cargo holds of your own aircraft and you couldn’t be bothered to stop it – or even bother to put security cameras in the hold…

As bad as that is, the next point might be even worse, at least from a business standpoint. It is very difficult to convince people who have just seen your employees commit mass murder (or be tricked into doing so because they were too greedy, credulous or stupid to figure out what was going on) to trust you or your employees with their lives in the future. Even if you company isn’t destroyed by criminal convictions, Federal fines, or damage awards, it may not be possible for you to break even in the future since nobody will want to do business with you again. In that case, it’s entirely possible that your failure to provide adequate security for your customers will end up destroying your entire company…

I don’t mean to suggest that the damages sustained by the airlines in the event of such an outrage would compare to the human suffering of the victims, the destruction of the U.S. economy, the loss of airport facilities in major cities that couldn’t possibly afford to replace them, or the collateral damage that would be suffered by the people of whatever country ends up being associated with the attack. I’m just saying that the business aspects are the only ones that could probably be eliminated with a handful of hidden cameras – and a corporate security division that was willing to monitor them properly…