They had checked them and everything in their (other) checked luggage, and I’m sure the people sitting all around them were probably air marshalls. I was worried about somebody else having stashed something on the plane that they could get up and use, but even if that had been the case, I doubt that they could have gotten anywhere near it.
This was a test run to see how our system works. In this case, it seems to have worked well. But it has also informed them that they (a) can’t fly separately from their checked luggage; (b) we don’t arrest people unless there are actual explosives or traces of explosives in their luggage (meaning that they will find something else to use); and that we will release them without serious questioning, no matter how unlikely it is that they were up to anything innocent.
*The 9/11 hijackers did not know each other either. They trained separately and each had their own job to do and itinerary on how to meet up for each flight.
“we don’t arrest people unless there are actual explosives or traces of explosives in their luggage “
The 9-11 hijackers didn’t have explosives either, all they had was some boxcutters and killed over 3000 innocent people and caused many billions of dollars of damage to the US economy.