Thwarted terrorist bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab just made air travel a lot more unpleasant — and passengers are furious.
Commercial airline passengers may not rise from their seats during the final hour of their flights, according to new government rules announced by some airlines yesterday.
Airline passengers are also barred from having any personal belongings on their laps — not even a paperback novel — during the hour before landing. In that time, all personal belongings must be stowed in carry-on bags and stay off-limits to passengers.
Passengers landing at JFK yesterday after long international flights said attendants locked the bathrooms and wouldn’t even let children use the facilities during the hour before landing.
The new rules by the US Transportation Security Administration — imposed after the al Qaeda operative tried to blow up Detroit-bound jet, Northwest Flight 253, which carried 278 passengers and 11 crew — were posted on Air Canada’s Web site yesterday. Air Canada also said it was limiting carry-on baggage to one item per passenger.
The TSA did not confirm the new restrictions.
Passengers arriving at JFK yesterday were livid about the tightened security measures they’d experienced.
“There was no entertainment on a seven-hour flight,” fumed Maria, 31, a teacher from Liverpool, England, arriving in New York City yesterday for vacation.
“There were no movies and no radio. They locked the bathrooms an hour before we landed and we weren’t allowed to get up. I want to be safe but this guy created havoc. I want some entertainment, at least.”
Passengers also complained about having to have their carry-on luggage searched twice — once electronically before entering the gates and then again by hand minutes before boarding the plane. The extra check, plus an extra pat down before boarding, added 45-minute delays to some flights.
“I had to take my coat off twice,” said Henry Miller, 59, who arrived at JFK yesterday from Italy. “I took it off checking in and then I was asked to take it off again before getting frisked when entering the plane.”
Karen Hall, 33, a banker visiting New York from Leicester, England, said the double security checks were overkill. “It seems a bit of a waste, since we already went through an electronic check,” she said. “Doing it twice is too much.”
“One guy did some thing and we’re all paying for it,” griped Jacen Diaz, 21, a student who flew to Kennedy yesterday from the Dominican Republic. “This is too much. My time is valuable.”
Some passengers said they the extra security made them feel safer. “You don’t know who is coming into the US,” said Jose Rostro, 47, an engineer arriving at JFK yesterday from Orlando. “Sometimes you have to check everything for each passenger. It’s OK.”
The new security measures are expected to vary from airport to airport, homeland security officials said.
“We are also working closely with federal, state and local law enforcement on additional security measures, as well as our international partners on enhanced security at airports and on flights,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement yesterday.