At what point are they just going to ban people from flights?

The evidence is growing that the government and security are at fault for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab getting the opportunity to set burn himself in his failed terrorist attack on a flight arriving in Detroit, Michigan.  Thankfully the flight crew and passengers reacted quickly to thwart disaster, but it also appears that there were mistakes made well before he tried detonating his device.

According to CNN, Umaru Abdul Mutallab, father of the would be terrorist, contacted. the U.S. Embassy weeks before the attack with concerns that his son was going to attempt something.  A source also told CNN that Umaru had contacted other security agencies possibly up to three months ago about his worries over a text message his son had sent him about going to Yemen.

Umar was placed on a watch list, but not the “no fly” list.  He was allowed to keep his passport and visa which allowed him to board that Northwest flight that he tried to bring down.  Authorities are saying they didn’t have enough evidence to take these actions.

Bull.

If a family is coming to you and saying, “Hey, we think our son has fallen in with a bad crowd, we think he is talking with terrorists and we think he is going to take action,” then you do something about it.  I mean, I certainly don’t have access to how many such reports security agencies get like this, but I would think if a father is telling you they think their son has turned to terrorism, I think I would give it a bit more credence than some random report.

Add to this he was on a watch list, why was he not checked more throughly before his flight?  Was he pulled aside for extra screening?  The government of the Netherlands is saying they did everything properly, but have they released security tapes to show us this?

So now we all get punished with new regulations due to government officials not taking a threat seriously enough.  From Air Canada’s Web site:

New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration also limit on-board activities by customers and crew in U.S. airspace that may adversely impact on-board service. Among other things, 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.

This means no going to the bathroom folks.  Ever tried with a small child?  I haven’t, but I have observed enough of it to know this is not going to go over well with parents.  No accessing carry-on baggage?  Hope you don’t need to change a diaper.  Have type-1 diabetes?  Hope you don’t need an insulin shot.

Thus far these has been no word on these rules being put in place for domestic flights inside the United States or on outbound international flights, but I would be surprised to see some of these pop up this week.

I am all for safety, don’t get me wrong on that, but I find it infuriating that everyone is so quick to put new rules in place on the travelers as opposed to looking into what went wrong with the reports that were made about this man before he even boarded a flight.  Are these investigations coming?  Will they be made public?  Who knows, but until then, lets make sure we treat every air passenger as a criminal … and don’t you dare go to the bathroom.