Restrictions rise after terrorism attempt

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Restrictions rise after terrorism attempt
Bangkok Post. Published: 27/12/2009 at 04:15 AM
Online news: World
Transportation authorities began imposing tighter security measures at airports on Saturday and ordered new restrictions governing the activities of passengers during flights as investigators conducted searches to learn more about the Nigerian engineering student accused of igniting an incendiary device aboard a Northwest Airlines jet as it landed in Detroit on Friday.

The White House declared the incident "an attempted act of terrorism." The plane, an Airbus A330 wide-body jet with 278 passengers coming from Amsterdam, landed safely around noon on Christmas Day after passengers helped subdue the suspect.

Less than 24 hours after the terrorist attempt, travellers at airports around the world, from Frankfurt to Rochester, N.Y., began experiencing heightened screening in security lines. Even as airlines began limiting United States-bound passengers to just one carry-on bag, travellers will feel the most significant changes during the actual flights.

According to a statement posted Saturday morning on Air Canada's Web site, the Transportation Security Administration will severely limit the behavior of both passengers and crew during flights in United States airspace — restricting movement in the final hour of flight. Late Saturday morning, the TSA had not yet included this new information on its own Web site.

"Among other things," the statement in Air Canada's Web site read, "during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps."

The suspect, identified as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, tried to light his explosives while the plane was descending into Detroit on Friday.

On its Web site, American Airlines said the TSA had ordered new measures for flights departing from foreign locations to the United States, including mandatory screening of all passengers at airport gates during the boarding process. All carry-on items also would be screened at boarding, the airline said. It urged passengers to leave extra time for screening and boarding.

Earlier in the day, British Airways had announced on its Web site that passengers flying from London to the United States would be allowed to carry only one item onto a plane. Air Canada also announced that restriction for its United States-bound passengers.

At airport terminals Saturday, travellers recounted the immediate differences they experienced. Though passengers arriving from Frankfurt passed speedily through United States customs at John F. Kennedy airport, they said that in Germany, the security was intensified.

"I really was surprised," Eva Clesle said about the level of scrutiny in Frankfurt, adding that officials inspected backpacks by opening "every single zip."

In Rochester, New York, one passenger waiting in a security line said she saw other passengers removed for additional screening.


 
Police at Toronto airport get serious on Saturday.
A Department of Homeland Security official said on Friday that the TSA used layers of security measures at the nation's airports and that not all of these measures would be visible: including bomb-sniffing dog teams, and plainclothes behavioral-detection specialists inside airport terminals. The official said there were no immediate plans to elevate the nation's threat level, which has been at orange since 2006.

At Kennedy Airport Saturday, security officers said little about the increased number of personnel or dogs, except to say that those numbers appeared not to be out of the ordinary.

"It's standard operation until we hear something from Washington," said one TSA officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of searches. (From wire reports)