What About Bob?

First it was Microsoft Bob, then Bob the Builder, now it's Bob the Barf Bag Bomb. A flight attendant last week on a United Airlines flight from Sydney to Los Angeles found an airsickness bag in the lavatory. The bag was marked BOB, which she immediately interpreted to Bomb-On-Board. No one even considered that B.O.B. might meant "babe on board", or "best on board", or even "buy on board" - which means that meals aren't provided gratis. Let alone that it might be someone's name.

90 minutes into the 14 hour flight the pilot decided to dump ~50,000 gallons of fuel and return to Sydney, where all air traffic was stopped while the authorities sorted out the mess. While bomb threats can't be ignored, shouldn't we have something a bit more credible than a barf bag that might have someone's name or a piece of airline slang written on it before deciding to run up six or seven figure expenses and ruining schedules for hundreds of people?