[HairOfTheDog]

Why, because everyone in NYC is now looking for suitcases on trains, and they might not have yesterday? All I am saying is that this "test" as you believe it might be has hurt them more than it might have helped.

There is no point in a dry run. If they want to know if they can walk on a train with a suitcase, and walk off without it, I think anyone would be able to answer that without a test. All the knee-jerk solutions suggested here don't make that risk go away.

There are smart people on our side working the problem. But there are smart people on the other side too.

[jimbo123]

From USA Today:

But FBI agents have zeroed in on about a dozen flights last year in which they suspect the hijacking ringleaders took test runs, the officials said.

In nearly all the suspected trial flights, the future hijackers used their real names to book flights.

Some of the suspected test flights followed the same coast-to-coast routes as the four planes hijacked on Sept. 11, but not the same flight numbers or airlines, officials said. Most were aboard American Airlines or United Airlines jets, the officials said.

One pilot interviewed by the FBI, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said agents told him the hijackers "did dry runs. at least the pilots went on board airplanes and took notes and watched movements of crews to see what the procedures were," the pilot said.

At least one witness at Boston Logan airport has reported to the FBI seeing a man resembling Atta taking notes at the terminal gate where American Airlines Flight 11 took off a couple of days before Sept. 11 taking notes

"This man had no luggage, no briefcase — all he had was a folder," Jan Shineman, of Sudbury, Mass., said in an interview last fall. "By the time I got to the gate, I thought he was casing the flight. I thought he was observing it for a reason."

[mindspy]

Perhaps they don't intend on using suitcases for their real plan. Everyone will be looking for suitcases when it will really be in something else or on someone else.

[FourPeas]

I agree with your analysis re: the dry run. Perhaps they didn't think five suitcases would be considered suspicious, otherwise, you're correct the test makes the results useless.

[oceanview]

as someone who uses Penn Station from time to time - I can honestly tell you that the biggest problem with all of this is the apathy of law enforcement as well as the civil service unions running the mass transit system. Case in point - the Port Authority of NY/NJ recently spent alot of money to purchase a 27 foot boat to use for policing and surveillance, it was recently found to have been outfitted with fishing gear for by the the PA workers. This kind of sentiment is what we face across the board.

To be honest, NYC should be in a CODE RED state all the time. Its the only way to get the various agencies to stop handing out traffic and tickets for handheld cellphone, and get them to pay attention to these counter-terror operations.