The cancellation of six Paris-to-Los Angeles Air France flights over Christmas combined with reports that terrorists may have infiltrated foreign flight crews raises the specter of a 9/11-like attack in the U.S. The U.K. has tightened security for trans-Atlantic flights and is considering putting armed sky marshals on some planes. Several other international carriers said they would comply with a U.S. requirement to place marshals on certain flights if requested to do so. Given such steps it is hard for travelers to know what the real risks are, especially when even U.S. security officials canÂ’t say if the Air France cancellations prevented an attack. The best policy is to take security warnings seriously but to continue traveling as planned, unless your flights are cited as the subject of credible, specific threats.
