You are missing the main point. If you are planning some sort of attack, you are going to go about it in the most direct way you can. You are not going to play around and introduce so many variables. Each variable you introduce makes the plan that much more likely to fail. Almost exponentially. The scenario that you propose would stand such a high chance of failure it would never work.
If someone is going to plan an attack that requires this much planning and coordination, there are much better ways to go about it that will give them a bigger bang for the buck (pun intended). Why sacrifice this many operatives to simply blow up a plane? If this could be done by one person, Richard Reid or the Chechen bombers, there is no reason to get more people involved.
Terrorists strike at targets of opportunity, they do not go out of their way to make themselves targets. This is the same problem that we have with the stupid ID checks at airports. If you are a terrorist, you are going to make sure you have all your paperwork in order. The ones that are going to get caught up in it are the normal people who forget their wallet at home.
Okay you could be right. Who were these guys on the plane? They were a musical group touring the country. Accessing alot of planes. Not everyone is a suicide bomber correct?
So I am assuming sometime before september 11th you came up with the idea of box cutters? Look al queda was willing to take 5 guys per plane to kill thousands. I am curious about your confidence that you know what they are willing and not willing to do to get the job done.
also would a richard reid shoe bomber fit into your theory?