Confusion Reigns Over In-Flight Security
You are now free to move about the cabin. Or not.
After a two-day security clampdown prompted by a thwarted attempt to bomb a jetliner, some airline officials told The Associated Press that the in-flight restrictions had been eased. And it was now up to captains on each flight to decide whether passengers can have blankets and other items on their laps or can move around during the final phase of flight.
Confused? So were scores of passengers who flew Monday on one of the busiest travel days of the year. On some flights, passengers were told to keep their hands visible and not to listen to iPods. Even babies were frisked. But on other planes, security appeared no tighter than usual.
The Transportation Security Administration did little to explain the rules. And that inconsistency might well have been deliberate: What's confusing to passengers is also confusing to potential terrorists.
"It keeps them guessing," transportation expert Joseph Schwieterman said.
What Lies Ahead for Air Travel
By not making public a point-by-point list of new security rules, federal officials also retain more flexibility, the DePaul University professor added, enabling them to target responses to certain airports or flights seen as more vulnerable.
"There was criticism after 9-11 that rules could be way too cookbook - not allowing authorities to adapt them to different settings, to different airports," Schwieterman said.
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Tightening Security in U.S.
If the objective was to befuddle, then on Monday it was mission accomplished.
On one Air Canada flight from Toronto to New York's LaGuardia Airport, crew members told passengers before departure that they were not allowed to use any electronic devices - even iPods - and would not be able to access their personal belongings during the one-hour flight.
The questions came as President Obama ordered a review of air-safety regulations. TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne declined to offer details other than to say the agency would "continually review and update these measures to ensure the highest level of security."
An hour before a US Air flight from Manchester, England, to Philadelphia landed, flight attendants removed passengers' blankets and told them to keep their "hands visible," said passenger Walt Swanson of Cumbria, England.
Even bathroom visits were affected on some flights.
On Continental Flight 1788 from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, three airport security agents frisked everyone at the gate, including babies, prompting one to scream loudly in protest. On the plane, crew announced that the toilets would be shut down the last hour of the flight and passengers would not be able eat, drink, or use electronic devices.
The warning that the bathrooms would be shut down led to lines 10 people deep at each lavatory. A demand by one attendant that no could read anything either elicited gasps of disbelief and howls of laughter.
In-cabin screens normally showing the plane's location and flight path were switched off on an Air France flight Saturday from San Francisco to Paris. Flight attendants said they were turned off as a security measure.
One of the Transportation Security Administration restrictions that most annoyed the airlines was an order to shut off in-flight entertainment systems on international flights. Airlines objected, and on Sunday night, the TSA apparently relented and left it to the discretion of airline crews to decide whether to turn off the systems.
"It was a hardship on our customers," said Mateo Lleras, a spokesman for JetBlue Airways, which touts its seatback entertainment systems and operates international flights to the Caribbean, Mexico and Costa Rica. "We're not in position to challenge the TSA security directives, and we do the best we can to comply."
The TSA also relaxed rules that had prohibited passengers from leaving their seats, opening carry-on bags and keeping blankets or babies on their laps during the last hour of international flights entering the U.S., according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the TSA had not publicly disclosed the change.
The short-term measures were a poor attempt to make passengers feel safer, CBS News travel correspondent Peter Greenberg .
"The real problem here is that, tomorrow, if someone tried to detonate a bomb on a plane and, right before he detonated it, he sang, 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' the TSA would issue a rule tomorrow saying, 'No singing on a plane.' It is a very bad camouflage attempt of not dealing with the real issue of how did this guy clear security in Nigeria and twice in Amsterdam, and still get on the plane?"
Crews have now been given the authority to impose restrictions for shorter periods or not at all, said the official.
Holiday traveler Sharen Rayburn, of Trion, Ga., said it took two hours to get through security in Denver because guards were checking every bag multiple times.
"You're a little more apprehensive to fly. You kind of pay attention to everybody," she said after landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.
At Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Monday morning, every U.S.-bound passenger was subjected to a pat-down and luggage was inspected by hand. It took about three hours to get through the checks, with some information boards citing the security measures for several delays and cancelations.
Elsewhere, especially on domestic flights, passengers said they had not detected security upgrades.
"I honestly didn't notice a difference, and we didn't receive any special instructions from the crew," said James Merling, a 68-year-old doctor who flew from Marquette, Mich., to Boston's Logan International Airport on Monday.
Lexi Wirthlin, 22, who arrived at Philadelphia International Airport on Monday from St. Louis, Mo., said she was warned by friends to expect long lines at airport screening points or other hassles onboard.
"I was expecting it to be intense," she said. "But it was totally fine."
But just because authorities imposed and then pulled back on in-flight rules in the last couple of days does not mean they will never be reinstated.
Schwieterman said new safety procedures have a tendency to become permanent, citing how attempted shoe-bomber Richard Reid's attack in 2001 ushered in footwear checks.
"I would say it is hard to imagine going back to a more lax security process given the persistence of these attempts," he said. "This is now a part of everyday life."
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. After a two-day security clampdown prompted by a thwarted attempt to bomb a jetliner, some airline officials told The Associated Press that the in-flight restrictions had been eased. And it was now up to captains on each flight to decide whether passengers can have blankets and other items on their laps or can move around during the final phase of flight.
Confused? So were scores of passengers who flew Monday on one of the busiest travel days of the year. On some flights, passengers were told to keep their hands visible and not to listen to iPods. Even babies were frisked. But on other planes, security appeared no tighter than usual.
The Transportation Security Administration did little to explain the rules. And that inconsistency might well have been deliberate: What's confusing to passengers is also confusing to potential terrorists.
"It keeps them guessing," transportation expert Joseph Schwieterman said.
What Lies Ahead for Air Travel
By not making public a point-by-point list of new security rules, federal officials also retain more flexibility, the DePaul University professor added, enabling them to target responses to certain airports or flights seen as more vulnerable.
"There was criticism after 9-11 that rules could be way too cookbook - not allowing authorities to adapt them to different settings, to different airports," Schwieterman said.
More Coverage from CBSNews.com:
Christmas Incident Renews Scanner Debate
Al Qaeda: We Planned Flight 253 Bombing
Officials: In-Flight Restrictions Eased
Tracing Bomb Suspect's Journey to Detroit
Expert: New Security Steps a Smokescreen
Al Qaeda's Yemen Branch Rising in Stature
Many Questions, Few Answers in Terror Case
U.S. Failed to Catch Suspect's Active Visa
Abdulmutallab Shocks Family, Friends
Would-Be Bomber Used Powerful Explosive
Who Is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?
Tightening Security in U.S.
If the objective was to befuddle, then on Monday it was mission accomplished.
On one Air Canada flight from Toronto to New York's LaGuardia Airport, crew members told passengers before departure that they were not allowed to use any electronic devices - even iPods - and would not be able to access their personal belongings during the one-hour flight.
The questions came as President Obama ordered a review of air-safety regulations. TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne declined to offer details other than to say the agency would "continually review and update these measures to ensure the highest level of security."
An hour before a US Air flight from Manchester, England, to Philadelphia landed, flight attendants removed passengers' blankets and told them to keep their "hands visible," said passenger Walt Swanson of Cumbria, England.
Even bathroom visits were affected on some flights.
On Continental Flight 1788 from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, three airport security agents frisked everyone at the gate, including babies, prompting one to scream loudly in protest. On the plane, crew announced that the toilets would be shut down the last hour of the flight and passengers would not be able eat, drink, or use electronic devices.
The warning that the bathrooms would be shut down led to lines 10 people deep at each lavatory. A demand by one attendant that no could read anything either elicited gasps of disbelief and howls of laughter.
In-cabin screens normally showing the plane's location and flight path were switched off on an Air France flight Saturday from San Francisco to Paris. Flight attendants said they were turned off as a security measure.
One of the Transportation Security Administration restrictions that most annoyed the airlines was an order to shut off in-flight entertainment systems on international flights. Airlines objected, and on Sunday night, the TSA apparently relented and left it to the discretion of airline crews to decide whether to turn off the systems.
"It was a hardship on our customers," said Mateo Lleras, a spokesman for JetBlue Airways, which touts its seatback entertainment systems and operates international flights to the Caribbean, Mexico and Costa Rica. "We're not in position to challenge the TSA security directives, and we do the best we can to comply."
The TSA also relaxed rules that had prohibited passengers from leaving their seats, opening carry-on bags and keeping blankets or babies on their laps during the last hour of international flights entering the U.S., according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the TSA had not publicly disclosed the change.
The short-term measures were a poor attempt to make passengers feel safer, CBS News travel correspondent Peter Greenberg .
"The real problem here is that, tomorrow, if someone tried to detonate a bomb on a plane and, right before he detonated it, he sang, 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' the TSA would issue a rule tomorrow saying, 'No singing on a plane.' It is a very bad camouflage attempt of not dealing with the real issue of how did this guy clear security in Nigeria and twice in Amsterdam, and still get on the plane?"
Crews have now been given the authority to impose restrictions for shorter periods or not at all, said the official.
Holiday traveler Sharen Rayburn, of Trion, Ga., said it took two hours to get through security in Denver because guards were checking every bag multiple times.
"You're a little more apprehensive to fly. You kind of pay attention to everybody," she said after landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.
At Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Monday morning, every U.S.-bound passenger was subjected to a pat-down and luggage was inspected by hand. It took about three hours to get through the checks, with some information boards citing the security measures for several delays and cancelations.
Elsewhere, especially on domestic flights, passengers said they had not detected security upgrades.
"I honestly didn't notice a difference, and we didn't receive any special instructions from the crew," said James Merling, a 68-year-old doctor who flew from Marquette, Mich., to Boston's Logan International Airport on Monday.
Lexi Wirthlin, 22, who arrived at Philadelphia International Airport on Monday from St. Louis, Mo., said she was warned by friends to expect long lines at airport screening points or other hassles onboard.
"I was expecting it to be intense," she said. "But it was totally fine."
But just because authorities imposed and then pulled back on in-flight rules in the last couple of days does not mean they will never be reinstated.
Schwieterman said new safety procedures have a tendency to become permanent, citing how attempted shoe-bomber Richard Reid's attack in 2001 ushered in footwear checks.
"I would say it is hard to imagine going back to a more lax security process given the persistence of these attempts," he said. "This is now a part of everyday life."
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Why aren't we examining the reasons for these attacks and work to solve that aspect, instead of literally breaking the bank and the country. In 2002 OBL wrote this letter to the USA where he outlined the reasons for their anger. It might be considered wise to examine it further instead of shunting it aside.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver
It won't be as dramatic, but I'm sure the terrorists understand now when they have to act.
At the start of WWII, over 6000 German Americans were slammed into prison, because the FBI was smart, did what was necessary to have the country survive. They were serious. The Govt in the late 30s knew there was a threat from pro NAZI Americans, and knew primarily what group was supporting the enemy, ( including Linberg !). The pro NAZIs were not Irish, Jews, or Portugese, or Indian Canadians, they were Germans, naturally !
History shows that the FBI had been following these pro Nazi German supporters, and knew all about them, intercepted letters, phone calls, and meetings - 6000 put in jail the day after war was declared. === Not one act of sababtage during the war.
That was certainly profiling. If it was good enough for German Americans, why not for American Muslims today ? Hurt feelings is something they should understand as patriotic Americans would gladly accept as part of a global war effort.
We need to adopt the Israeli screening techniques, and monitor what is being taught, and planned.
If the terrorists had been totally annihilated 8 years ago, when we had the chance, it might be different story. But that's water beneath the bridge, and it's way too late now.
And so much the more now that we have to worry about hurting the feelings of the muslims trying to kill us.
What are the airlines doing when people absolutely have to pee during that last hour if they are forced to stay seated?
Are they making people sit and suffer and moan? Are there exceptions?
Has there been anyone who has yet peed on the floor, their clothes, etc? Has anyone heard of such an incident yet?
This "remain-in-seat the last hour" is a draconian rule. Furthermore, it has no relevant connection to the recent attack, since the Nigerian could have done his attempt at ANY time during the 7 hour flight. (It makes me wonder, what if the Nigerian had been wearing orange earrings? Would there also now be a no-orange-earring rule? At what point does the TSA and airline security realize how stupid these specific knee-jerk rules appear to those of us with more than 10 brain cells left?)
It would be interesting to know what they would do with a passenger desperate to pee getting up and going to the restroom anyway.
Too bad 99% of us are "sheeple" and are so terrified of being arrested by security upon landing, and ending up on a no-fly list. We just sit there, suck it up, and think ?gee, the government must know better than me. I will just cooperate.?
It`s disgraceful that most of us so willingly give up our basic civil liberties when flying. Can anyone think of any other vendor we work with where we give them thousands of dollars to make us miserable and deny us basic rights? Nope.
Just never forget this: YOU are the customer. The airlines are a business, a vendor, that YOU are patronizing. YOU are giving THEM money for a service.
So, now we are paying them money?.. to make us miserable, and take away our rights.
If you think about it this way, and you still don`t get angry, then you are beyond help.
Why just the "final phase of flight"? Are the terrorists only allowed to bomb the plane on the final phase????