3 JULY 1993, Page 21

. . . expect turbulence

THE AIRLINE business has perils of its own. One involves an author who, swanning round the Far East as so many of us like to do, mentioned the local airline stewardess- es in terms that set their brothers reaching for their horsewhips. His return ticket was on the same airline, which advised him not to travel. The ticket, he protested, gave him a contractual right. At this point the air- line's head of security took him aside: 'Put it this way, sir. If you were Salman Rushdie, would you fly Iran Air?'