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Since the shoe-bomber flight in December, American Airlines has offered a self-defense course; neither Jones nor Moutardier has attended the training. But Jones has devised her own safety rules. Instead of walking from the front of the plane to the back when she checks to see if seat belts are fastened, she now walks aft to forward because "I can see better what people are doing with their hands." She scrutinizes passengers more closely. On an international flight, a man who spoke no English got up before the plane taxied into the gate, and started walking into the business-class section. "He was coming right at me," says Jones. Crew members made him sit down, but Jones, fearing a bomb, went further and--on her own--ordered a full aircraft interior search after passengers disembarked. "Now I'm more involved in the situation," she says. "I make sure everything is checked; bins are opened before takeoff. I'm proactive."
Moutardier, back from Paris, hopes to return to work in October. Both she and Jones may testify at Reid's trial, which is set to begin in Boston on Nov. 4, but Moutardier says she is determined to leave the incident behind her. "I'm putting a lot of positive thoughts in my head. I cannot live in fear. I'm stronger. We're all stronger," she says. "I'm gaining back my life, little by little. I know I was there that day, on that flight, for a reason. Now I need to get back to work because I'm doing what I love. I'll be perfectly..." She pauses as if willing herself to believe her own words, then finishes with a tentative smile, "...O.K."