Northwest Airlines

The alleged Christmas Day airline bomber had purchased a round-trip ticket -- not a one- way fare, as has been widely reported -- the Obama administration told congressional aides in a closed briefing Tuesday. According to a person who attended the meeting, the administration also said it was not unusual for international air travelers to buy their tickets using cash, as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had done. Up to 20% of overseas flights are cash transactions, Department of Homeland Security officials told House and Senate aides.

Northwest Airlines Corp.'s ability to keep flying while its mechanics are on strike is a telling example of how the airline industry's severe financial troubles are sapping the clout of unions, analysts said. Just ask 30-year mechanic Sander Shipper, who was walking the picket line Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport as Northwest flights came and went.

In a tacit admission that the U.S. squandered a chance to gain valuable information after the failed Christmas Day airliner bombing, the nation's intelligence director testified Wednesday that authorities had been too quick to read the suspect his Miranda rights and grant him access to an attorney. Dennis C. Blair said that a newly created team of elite interrogators should have been called in to question Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and that top officials in Washington should have been consulted.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday that the suicide bomber who tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas did not appear to be part of a broader plot to attack U.S. targets and that flying is safe. The administration announced two sweeping reviews into the situation, but Republicans said the government was not taking Al Qaeda or the safety of air travelers seriously enough. The Christmas Day attempt, in which a 23-year-old Nigerian allegedly tried to set off an incendiary device on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit as it prepared for landing, jangled nerves worldwide.

NWA Inc., the parent of Northwest Airlines, has received takeover offers from Los Angeles financier Alfred A. Checchi and from Northwest's machinists union, bringing the number of known bidders to four. Details about the bids were not disclosed. As previously reported, NWA has also received bids from Pan Am Corp. and Los Angeles billionaire Marvin Davis. NWA, based in Eagan, Minn., is the fourth-largest U.S. airline and has a strong Pacific route system and valuable real estate in Japan.

In what was described as an act of terrorism, a Nigerian passenger attempted to ignite an incendiary device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Friday as the plane began its approach for landing, federal officials said. Other passengers overpowered the man and the plane landed safely. The suspect, identified as Abdul Mutallab, 23, suffered severe burns as a result of the attempt, authorities said, and two of the other 277 passengers reported minor injuries.

An angry President Obama said Tuesday that there had been "unacceptable" failures in the American intelligence system that allowed an accused terrorist to board a U.S.-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, and vowed changes in security procedures and information gathering to avert future plots. The president held a lengthy afternoon session with top administration officials, during which agency heads acknowledged their shortcomings and laid plans for corrections. "This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," Obama told the officials, White House officials said later.

At Philadelphia International Airport, a baggage screener was caught in March of last year stealing laptop computers and a video game system from the luggage of airline passengers. That same month, police in St. Louis broke up a theft ring involving eight baggage handlers working for a contractor for Delta Airlines. In October, a former baggage handler at Northwest Airlines pleaded guilty to stealing more than $10,000 in goods from checked baggage, and posting some of the booty on EBay.

The ultimate objective of terrorism is to sow fear. In that sense, the Christmas Day plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight succeeded, even though the bomb that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab carried in his underwear failed to explode. The near-miss understandably revived American anxieties, which then were whipped into a frenzy by President Obama's opponents. The challenge now, as the administration seeks to address the lapses that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the plane, is to do so without handing Al Qaeda another opportunity to portray the U.S. as an enemy of Islam.

White-knuckle airline passengers who are already shaken by news that two Northwest Airline pilots are under investigation for overshooting a Minneapolis airport after possibly nodding off, won't want to hear this: Some pilots say cockpit catnaps happen. "Pilots on occasion do take controlled naps," said Barry Schiff, an aviation safety consultant and retired TWA pilot. "So this is not without precedent." Although the Federal Aviation Administration prohibits pilots from catching a few z's in the cockpit, several airline pilots say they are surprised such napping mishaps haven't happened more often, considering longer work schedules for pilots and advances in aviation that make planes easier to fly. The issue of cockpit siestas came under scrutiny this week after the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board announced they were looking into why Northwest Flight 188, from San Diego to Minneapolis, overshot its airport by 150 miles before turning around.

At Philadelphia International Airport, a baggage screener was caught in March of last year stealing laptop computers and a video game system from the luggage of airline passengers. That same month, police in St. Louis broke up a theft ring involving eight baggage handlers working for a contractor for Delta Airlines. In October, a former baggage handler at Northwest Airlines pleaded guilty to stealing more than $10,000 in goods from checked baggage, and posting some of the booty on EBay.

In a tacit admission that the U.S. squandered a chance to gain valuable information after the failed Christmas Day airliner bombing, the nation's intelligence director testified Wednesday that authorities had been too quick to read the suspect his Miranda rights and grant him access to an attorney. Dennis C. Blair said that a newly created team of elite interrogators should have been called in to question Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and that top officials in Washington should have been consulted.

The alleged Christmas Day airline bomber had purchased a round-trip ticket -- not a one- way fare, as has been widely reported -- the Obama administration told congressional aides in a closed briefing Tuesday. According to a person who attended the meeting, the administration also said it was not unusual for international air travelers to buy their tickets using cash, as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had done. Up to 20% of overseas flights are cash transactions, Department of Homeland Security officials told House and Senate aides.

Declaring that "the buck stops with me," President Obama on Thursday released the results of an internal investigation into the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt and ordered a series of incremental measures meant to close gaps in the U.S. intelligence system that failed to detect it in advance. The president avoided blaming any particular agency or official for the breakdowns that allegedly allowed a Nigerian extremist to board a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit armed with explosives, leaving a series of warning signs along the way. "As president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people.

The ultimate objective of terrorism is to sow fear. In that sense, the Christmas Day plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight succeeded, even though the bomb that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab carried in his underwear failed to explode. The near-miss understandably revived American anxieties, which then were whipped into a frenzy by President Obama's opponents. The challenge now, as the administration seeks to address the lapses that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the plane, is to do so without handing Al Qaeda another opportunity to portray the U.S. as an enemy of Islam.

An angry President Obama said Tuesday that there had been "unacceptable" failures in the American intelligence system that allowed an accused terrorist to board a U.S.-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, and vowed changes in security procedures and information gathering to avert future plots. The president held a lengthy afternoon session with top administration officials, during which agency heads acknowledged their shortcomings and laid plans for corrections. "This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," Obama told the officials, White House officials said later.

After meeting this afternoon with top security aides, President Obama is scheduled to announce tougher airline security measures in response to a failed attempt to blow up a jetliner bound for the United States. Obama will meet with representatives of 20 agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, the CIA and FBI before unveiling the new steps this afternoon. Airlines have already been ordered to step up searches in the wake of the Christmas Day incident. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who has said he was recruited by Al Qaeda operatives, is in federal custody, charged with trying to destroy the Northwest Airlines flight as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.

U.S. intelligence agencies had enough "bits and pieces" of information to thwart the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing, a senior administration official said Tuesday, but they failed to properly analyze and share it. Instead, what President Obama called a potentially catastrophic "mix of human and systemic failures" allowed a 23-year-old Nigerian to board a U.S.-bound airliner, allegedly hiding an explosive device that could have killed nearly...

The Al Qaeda wing in Yemen that claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing last week of a Northwest Airlines flight has as many as 2,000 militants and sympathizers exploiting the country's economic and political chaos to create a base for jihad at the edge of the Persian Gulf, according to a Yemeni terrorism expert. The group, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is the latest reincarnation of Islamist militant cells that have been active in Yemen for years. The country has supplied extremists to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to terrorist networks stretching from North Africa to Europe.

The Al Qaeda wing in Yemen that claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight has as many as 2,000 militants and sympathizers exploiting the country's economic and political chaos to create a base for jihad at the edge of the Persian Gulf, according to a Yemeni terrorism expert. The group, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is the latest reincarnation of Islamist militant cells that have been active in Yemen for years. The country has supplied extremists to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to terrorist networks stretching from North Africa to Europe.