Plane used often by White House carried 13 Bin Ladens out of US post-9/11

Still losing sleep over fears that Osama bin Laden's kin were forced to suffer in commercial coach class when they flew out of the US a week after 9/11? Today's Washington Post should make you feel better:

At least 13 relatives of Osama bin Laden, accompanied by bodyguards and associates, were allowed to leave the United States on a chartered flight eight days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a passenger manifest released yesterday. One passenger, Omar Awad bin Laden, a nephew of the al Qaeda leader, had been investigated by the FBI because he had lived with Abdullah bin Laden, a leader of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which the FBI suspected of being a terrorist organization.

The passenger list was made public by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who obtained the manifest from officials at Boston's Logan International Airport. Lautenberg's office was given the document in recent weeks and released it before today's issuance of the final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. Although much was already known about the "bin Laden flight," Lautenberg provided additional details, including the information that the plane, a 727 owned by DB Air and operated by Ryan International, began its flight in Los Angeles and made stops in Orlando, Dulles International Airport and Boston before continuing to Gander, Newfoundland; Paris; Geneva; and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft, tail number N521DB, has been chartered frequently by the White House for the press corps traveling with President Bush. (...)

"The Saudi Embassy offered to pay more money if our crew had a concern," [Ron Ryan of Ryan International] said. But he said all were reassured because "the FBI and Secret Service were heavily involved. They were in abundance every place we were."

Link

Update: BoingBoing reader Ken says, "Here's the aircraft's website run by the charter company. They fled in style. Link"
[Ed: image above grabbed from this online photo tour of transcontinental luxury service model N521DB, described on charter company DB Air's website as a "club room in the sky." ]

And Vidiot says, "Besides the White House press corps and the bin Ladens, N521DB has also flown Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones, and the Baltimore Orioles...here are pix of it at various airports: Link"