Quote Originally Posted by cassiesmom View Post
I guess I am confused; and I haven't been on an airplane for a few years now. Flight 253 on Christmas, the man had explosives stitched into his underwear. I heard on the news tonight there is almost no way to screen for that. But the second man, was he in the lavatory for a long time only because he became ill? Would they have re-screened passengers arriving from Nigeria who were continuing from Amsterdam to Detroit? What would be the advantage of restricting all passengers to their seats for the final hour of a flight? I don't see it.
Yes, the second man was ill. The restriction is to hopefully prevent another nutcase from trying to blow up a plane as it is getting ready to land. Blow it up over water - no one sees it, and only those on board die. Blow it up over land - it is visible, and there will be fatalities on the ground.

I also heard that this passenger was really given the 3rd degree going through security in Amsterdam. That was said by more than one of the other passengers when they were interviewed in Detroit.