Apparently they both were, because both countries that the citizens were from said that they knew the passports had been stolen. I have no idea how the people were able to board the flight with them, considering that.
Apparently Interpol had one of the passports on their list as stolen, but likely not the other one. (Which, I guess means one person reported it and the other didn't).
However, security didn't check the Interpol list when they were checking passports upon boarding, so they didn't catch it.
How is that possible? My completely legit passport was checked and held from me prior to departure, and then I got extra special questioning on arrival only because I shared a name with a local fugitive.
As much of a pita is can be, I really don't mind. I didn't even really mind when Korean police held me upon departure because they'd screwed up my stamp entering the country.
And I'm not one to say "if you have nothing to hide, be OK with privacy violations".
Checking Interpol, and cross checking dates and times seems completely legit.
Apparently Interpol had one of the passports on their list as stolen, but likely not the other one. (Which, I guess means one person reported it and the other didn't).
However, security didn't check the Interpol list when they were checking passports upon boarding, so they didn't catch it.
How is that possible? My completely legit passport was checked and held from me prior to departure, and then I got extra special questioning on arrival only because I shared a name with a local fugitive.
As much of a pita is can be, I really don't mind. I didn't even really mind when Korean police held me upon departure because they'd screwed up my stamp entering the country.
And I'm not one to say "if you have nothing to hide, be OK with privacy violations".
Checking Interpol, and cross checking dates and times seems completely legit.
I'm not certain. CNN mentions that there are 39 million people in their database, so there is definitely room for user error / overlooking things / people slipping through the cracks.
In this case, though, I think the Malaysian authorities just didn't check Interpol's database at all.
Yikes. This is very scary. My sister is in Nepal, flying home today by way of Malaysia and China so I had a good freak out this morning until I realized she wasn't leaving until today. And I'm now officially freaked out to fly to Turkey this summer without my kids. UuUUUUgh.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
What would be the motivation for a terrorist attack originating in Malaysia? When we lived there I pretty much assumed that anyone who wanted to bomb something had a ton of options in the area and Malaysia/KL was pretty low in the list.
Post by ChillyMcFreeze on Mar 9, 2014 0:22:43 GMT -5
So this flight was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 am and we flew out of Beijing at 1:00 pm. We didn't hear about it until our flight attendant mentioned it during our flight (SO not what you want to hear on a 13-hour flight), but we noticed in retrospect that security was 10x tighter today than it was when we arrived. We even had a final pat down and bag check at the gate after we showed our boarding passes. I think it must be related, and a lot of the statements seem to be gently confirming that this wasn't an accident.
One other thing: security at KLIA isn't exactly lax. You go through security once prior to immigration and entering the international terminal. Then you have to go through a more thorough security before you can enter the gate from which the plane is departing.
Post by Velar Fricative on Mar 9, 2014 8:21:14 GMT -5
For now, I'm going with the theory that the stolen passports were used to smuggle drugs and/or are unrelated to the (likely) crash. I kinda feel like if this were an act of terrorism, we'd already know that. But, I've been wrong before.
Doesn't the black box transmit a ping for authorities to track it? Why is it taking so long to find the location?
Edit: Guess it's not as easy as it should seem:
On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 was en route from Rio De Janeiro to Paris when communications ended suddenly from the Airbus A330, another state-of-the-art aircraft.
It took four searches over the course of nearly two years to locate the bulk of flight 447's wreckage and the majority of the 228 bodies in a mountain range deep under the ocean. It took even longer to find the cause of the disaster.
In May 2011, the aircraft's voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered from the ocean floor after an extensive search using miniature submersible vehicles.
Doesn't the black box transmit a ping for authorities to track it? Why is it taking so long to find the location?
Assuming it survived whatever happened, which it should have, it could be political - you've got Malaysia, Thailand and China all out there, and who knows what's going on behind the scenes.
ETA don't forget it took over two years to find the black box for the Air France crash.
For now, I'm going with the theory that the stolen passports were used to smuggle drugs and/or are unrelated to the (likely) crash. I kinda feel like if this were an act of terrorism, we'd already know that. But, I've been wrong before.
I am leaning more towards this as well especially now that CNN has reported that the tickets for the 2 stolen passports were purchased at the same time/location in Thailand.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Mar 9, 2014 9:17:14 GMT -5
Terrorists generally would have claimed this by now. I'm also leaning toward some very unlucky drug smugglers. Thousands of stolen passports are used every year. We just don't know about them because this level of public scrutiny on the passenger manifest doesn't happen unless the plane goes down.
Terrorists generally would have claimed this by now. I'm also leaning toward some very unlucky drug smugglers. Thousands of stolen passports are used every year. We just don't know about them because this level of public scrutiny on the passenger manifest doesn't happen unless the plane goes down.
DH says he read a report that both passengers were booked all the way to Europe, so he thinks they were most likely really unlucky people trying to immigrate illegally.
I just read a brief article stating that the radar tracking of the plane indicates it may have turned back toward Malaysia before it crashed. There was also an FBI expert who said he didn't think it was necessarily terrorism, as thousands of of stolen passports are in use all the time, as stated above.
That makes me think perhaps it was mechanical. But it still confuses me that no one made a distress call. If they had time to turn back, wouldn't they have called? They were at cruising altitude, so they would have had time before they went down. Unless of course the plane came apart mid-air I suppose.
Terrorists generally would have claimed this by now. I'm also leaning toward some very unlucky drug smugglers. Thousands of stolen passports are used every year. We just don't know about them because this level of public scrutiny on the passenger manifest doesn't happen unless the plane goes down.
DH says he read a report that both passengers were booked all the way to Europe, so he thinks they were most likely really unlucky people trying to immigrate illegally.
Booking all the way to Europe was a way to ensure that they didn't need a visa for China - you can transit through China without a visa, but if it's your final destination, you have to get one (which can be an extensive, invasive process).
I just saw this on FB from KTVU's page (Bay Area):
MISSING PLANE Vietnamese authorities on Sunday said a low-flying plane spotted a rectangular object in waters about 56 miles south of Tho Chu island, in the same area where oil slicks were spotted Saturday. State media speculated the object might be from the missing plane.
DH says he read a report that both passengers were booked all the way to Europe, so he thinks they were most likely really unlucky people trying to immigrate illegally.
Booking all the way to Europe was a way to ensure that they didn't need a visa for China - you can transit through China without a visa, but if it's your final destination, you have to get one (which can be an extensive, invasive process).
So it could have been a lot of things.
I was just going to post this before I started hyperventilating about mid-flight disintegration. Ditto. They could have just been trying to avoid getting a visa. Do they check in Malaysia that you have a Chinese visa before you board though? Because if not it wouldn't explain the European destination, if their intention was blowing up the plane.
Reuters India is reporting that the investigation is narrowing in on mid-air disintegration.
I hope this means disintegration from a bomb because otherwise I'm never flying again ever.
oh look, something more terrifying than a free-falling plane.
Could be an explosion or possibly due to the prior wing repair?
The missing Malaysia Airlines plane had suffered damage in the past, airline CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said Sunday. The aircraft had a clipped wing tip, but Boeing repaired it, and the jet was safe to fly, Yahya said.
Booking all the way to Europe was a way to ensure that they didn't need a visa for China - you can transit through China without a visa, but if it's your final destination, you have to get one (which can be an extensive, invasive process).
So it could have been a lot of things.
I was just going to post this before I started hyperventilating about mid-flight disintegration. Ditto. They could have just been trying to avoid getting a visa. Do they check in Malaysia that you have a Chinese visa before you board though? Because if not it wouldn't explain the European destination, if their intention was blowing up the plane.
I don't think they will. Most if the time I flew, I was only checked that I had a visa/passport for my final destination.
I was just going to post this before I started hyperventilating about mid-flight disintegration. Ditto. They could have just been trying to avoid getting a visa. Do they check in Malaysia that you have a Chinese visa before you board though? Because if not it wouldn't explain the European destination, if their intention was blowing up the plane.
I don't think they will. Most if the time I flew, I was only checked that I had a visa/passport for my final destination.
but if China had been their final destination then they would have checked to see if they had a Chinese visa before they boarded? If so then I can see why terrorists would have picked a destination where they didn't need a visa.
I don't think they will. Most if the time I flew, I was only checked that I had a visa/passport for my final destination.
but if China had been their final destination then they would have checked to see if they had a Chinese visa before they boarded? If so then I can see why terrorists would have picked a destination where they didn't need a visa.
Reuters India is reporting that the investigation is narrowing in on mid-air disintegration.
I hope this means disintegration from a bomb because otherwise I'm never flying again ever.
oh look, something more terrifying than a free-falling plane.
No way. Plane explodes in mid-air, I'm immediately blown to bits. A free fall? Too much time for me to feel, well, I don't know what. And I don't want to know what.
I don't think they will. Most if the time I flew, I was only checked that I had a visa/passport for my final destination.
but if China had been their final destination then they would have checked to see if they had a Chinese visa before they boarded? If so then I can see why terrorists would have picked a destination where they didn't need a visa.
You don't need a visa for China if you are connecting under a certain amount of time an never leave the airport.
I can't think of a group that would benefit from attacking a plane filled primarily with Chinese and Malaysian nationals though. I've routed through China a few times from KL to Europe and H used to take that flight for work--by far the vast majority of the people on flights between the two countries are citizens of one or another. Although you can route through China it's not really a common thing for non-Asians to be doing.
You don't need a visa for China if you are connecting under a certain amount of time an never leave the airport.
I can't think of a group that would benefit from attacking a plane filled primarily with Chinese and Malaysian nationals though. I've routed through China a few times from KL to Europe and H used to take that flight for work--by far the vast majority of the people on flights between the two countries are citizens of one or another. Although you can route through China it's not really a common thing for non-Asians to be doing.
Western Chinese (Uigher etc.) separatists? They've been doing some terrorist stuff lately in China. Tibetans (not that they've ever been terrorists before, but they have been doing a lot of self-immolation lately)?
I don't know. I was also thinking Southern Thai separatists, but why they would care to blow up a plane primarily full of Chinese people I don't really know.
This is the only thing I can think of, but blowing up planes would be a pretty big jump from their usual MO. Even Al Qaida can't seem to get bombs onto airplanes anymore.
but if China had been their final destination then they would have checked to see if they had a Chinese visa before they boarded? If so then I can see why terrorists would have picked a destination where they didn't need a visa.
oh look, something more terrifying than a free-falling plane.
No way. Plane explodes in mid-air, I'm immediately blown to bits. A free fall? Too much time for me to feel, well, I don't know what. And I don't want to know what.
oh yah I'd much prefer an instantaneous explosion. I just pictured the plane crumbling to pieces without an explosion. Like the wing rips off and leaves a hole in the plane and the people and various plane bits just fall out and plummet to the earth. You'd die from the air exposure pretty quick though right? RIGHT? I'm not helping, am I?
I remember watching a Lifetime movie based on a true story of a plane's roof ripping off mid-air and people getting sucked out into the sky. I had nightmares for weeks after that.
I remember watching a Lifetime movie based on a true story of a plane's roof ripping off mid-air and people getting sucked out into the sky. I had nightmares for weeks after that.