Passenger prayer spurs security alert on LA flight

........what a bunch of jackasses. would you not be smart enough to think of a certain event that happened in this country and then decide to do a "elaborate orthodox Jewish prayer ritual"......should have opened the door and thrown them off right then and there.

Ok, you guys dont understand somthing...

The "ritual" isnt elaborate, the boxes and straps are called "Tefillin" I wont post a link to a pic, you can google it, they are far from threatening. Hell, when you put them on it actually restricts the movment of the arm you put it on. its done EVERY day in the morning prayer. (I used to be an orthodox jew and am currently an athiest). The praying aloud in hebrew probably didnt help since hebrew and arabic sound alike to the untrained ear. That probably added to the confusion and anxiety and could have been done silently.

The crew should have been trained in different rituals that they could come across. I know multiple airlines that cover these issues.

This is what our society has come to? Wake up people. September 11, 2001 will never be forgotten. I don't think they should have been thrown from the plane right away. I think it was handled properly. For everyone in a religion that involves RITUALS, perform them at home so that the rest paranoid america doesn't get so freaked out when they see something that they don't understand.

Agreed, they shouldnt have been thrown out of the plane, but seriously...only ritual performed on an airplane should be the checklists!

I wonder what Alaska Airlines charged them for using the airplane for religous purposes? $50 or so? Get the fees for the straps and boxes, too.

I believe that this situation was reasonable for the actions taken. In today's world, you should not be doing religious prayers during a flight. All this will do will raise suspicion. The flight crew executed their decisions in a calm, but serious matter.