Yes, but if the terrorists are secretly assembling a bomb in the lavatory, no one - not even Chuck Norris sitting in first class - can do anything about it.
This sort of think is probably why the last few flights I have been on have had a rule that only first class passengers can use the forward lavatory. Also there is to be no standing around in the forward area. All someone has to do to stop this is search the restroom after only half of them have used it. That or put cameras in there but there is no way they will do that.
BULLS-EYE. My absolute # 1 first hunch was that ("dry run" or not) the M.O. appears that different, innocent looking bomb making elements could be smuggled onboard, assembled in flight, becoming lethal when combined and detonated. It is extremely clear that all policies and practices we currently have in place are not "street smart" enough to PREVENT combinations of personnel and materiel to be assembled. To the extent that "PC" policies are in place, Congress must remove or reverse those "PC" laws and give the good guys the tools to protect our people, who have to be like sheep led to the slughter at this point. Seriously, I feel sorry for the people on board.
It is crystal clear that not enough was done before the planbe took off. This is a case study that should be examined in detail by all appropraite authorities and changes in our legal system should be made to prevent even "dry runs" and obviously suspicious "staging point" type of activity to ever even occur.
Below is a an excerpt from the article for those that did not read the whole thing:
"...Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight: Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners
Islamic militants have conducted dry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe.
The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe, security sources say.
...The... Transportation Security Administration issued an urgent memo detailing new threats to aviation and warning that terrorists in teams of five might be planning suicide missions to hijack commercial airliners, possibly using common items...such as cameras, modified as weapons.
...Components of IEDs [improvised explosive devices]can be smuggled on to an aircraft, concealed in either clothing or personal carry-on items... and assembled on board. In many cases of suspicious passenger activity, incidents have taken place in the aircraft's forward lavoratory."
It is clear that everyone involved had enough common sense to discern that something was amiss, yet it appears we alre all prisoners of Political Correctness! Nuts
Am I the only one that would have gotten on line to use the men's room?
The first thing I can think of is to mess up their plan by planting myself in their midst, and using their lavatory of choice.
Who was it that said "keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer."?
Could we have hidden cameras in the johns? Sounds reasonable to me.
Disagree. Knowing this now, the airlines could very easly establish a policy preventing anyone from carrying anything into the restroom, to be announced BEFORE take-off. If you need to #1 or #2, tools or packages shouldn't be required.
A "flight attendant" (used to call 'em stewards/stewardesses) could inspect any package taken to the loo.
Passenger to attendant, "May I skip to the loo, my darlin?"