However, I fly and never check a bag. Like a guy said, there are two type of bags on an airliner: carry-on and lost.
I also choose my seat to be on the left side of the jet, window. Lots of international flights here and the sun comes in the left side and blinds those that sit across the aisle or jet. So, I close the window. If I wasn't there, some brain-dead would keep the window open and blind everyone and washout the TV screen, too include mine.
I also travel on short-notice. Have to, nature of the business. Not uncommon for me to book a international flight one day and leave the next.
Would seem odd if I was muslime, between the ages of 18-30 and from Yemen. But I am a W/M, 50-ish business traveler so I shouldn't have to put up with abuse. I am not a muslime, I am not conducting jihad. I am middle-aged W/M in a business suite, that travels a lot and know what makes me most comfortable while suffering on-board a jet.
Yes, what you say is part of the equation but religious profiling is essential to complete the picture.
And this stuff about the seat being THE seat to be in to bring down the jet. There are many seats that would do the trick, like center-seat in mid-jet over the wing. Or, last row close to the tail-section, or even first class up-front close to the cockpit. These seat “experts” are talking just to get paid, not to prove a point.
I quite agree! And what you point out is exactly how the system should work. When they noticed you because you didn’t check baggage, or paid cash, or chose a particular seat they would be on the lookout for you as flight time draws near. One look at you would probably end the whole thing, but they could always talk to you for a moment and know you aren’t a likely suspect! They could also check your history and find you’ve made these trips numerous times.
As for the religion part, that would come up if they identified you by the other criteria and actually felt it worth their time and effort to interview you.
A good interviewer can talk to someone for a minute or two and get a feel for their truthfulness. And thankfully they don’t have to depend on their gut feeling. They can always frisk you, or worse, depending on what they find.
Like most things governments, actually more correctly bureaucracies, do they never take the simplest or most efficient route. Regardless of how honest and sincere their intentions when they set out to address a problem it’s just a matter of time before the silliness takes over and in a short while they’ve completely abandoned serious efforts to solve the problem. Instead the get bogged down in the process and soon it outweighs the outcome.