Will Indian Airlines Learn?

I flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to Bankgok, both on Cathay Pacific. While the SFO to Hong Kong flight was 14 hours long and there was good reason to use a Boeing 747, I thought it strange that a B 747 would be used for the Hong Kong to Bangkok part; a flight only 2 hours long. I counted that in all only 7-8 persons turned around the plane...it was fuelled, cleaned, food carts were loaded and the baggage was loaded.

My flight from Bangkok to Hyderabad via Nagpur was by Indian Airlines. We had a 40 minute halt in Nagpur during which, almost 17 persons serviced the plane which was a Airbus 320; much smaller than a 747. I thought there was a serious security issue being overlooked. Almost 8-9 persons came into the plane to clean things and I believe it is very simple for some guy to plant an explosive devise or something, especially since they were under very little or no supervision. More interesting was a police constable who came into the plane and checked baggages in the over head storage bins. He went about asking each passenger if the peice of baggage belonged to him or not. Why is there any need for that? Already all baggage is passed through multiple security checks at the aiport. Was the constable suspicious that some one must have smuggled in something in mid-air?!

While almost 17 persons serviced the plane, only 8 passengers boarded in Nagpur and the total number of passengers was about 35!!! I think Indian Airlines should seriously consider all this, both the inefficiencies involved and the possible security issues. From our past experiences, I am sure this just cannot be overlooked.