Tom remember those British planes getting all the attention at Christmas? It was thought the bad guys were planning the same thing.
indeed, those planes were given attention because of the female body cavity bomber threats.
the key information was posted on some threads here at the time - who was questioned when the planes landed? female Muslim women, either single or traveling without their husbands. that was the profile, and we can see why. of course, profiling them AFTER the plane lands doesn't do much to protect the flight.
there is no way to solve this issue except to deny the right to fly (not that their is such a right) to persons who cannot prove they can pass the security check. that's how El-Al works, you have to prove to them that you are OK to fly - otherwise you don't go. but with our court system, we could never have this in this country.