US issues stringent in-flight guidelines

NEW DELHI: This could be one occasion where King Khan will not jump to queue to yell Main Hoon Na. The Bollywood superstar, who recently threw a tantrum when he was asked to go through a routine security check at a US airport on a promotion trip for his film My Name is Khan, cannot now complain about an intrusive security drill for passengers.

The US-bound passengers aboard international flights will have to undergo a “thorough pat-down” at boarding gates, focused on the upper legs and torso.

“Passengers must remain seated for the final hour before landing. During that time, they may not have access to their carry-on baggage or hold personal items on their laps. While over US airspace, flight crews may not make any announcements to passengers concerning the flight path or the airplane’s position over cities or landmarks,” the new rules notified by the US authorities said.

This follows an attempt by a Nigerian man Abdulmutallab to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day. Reports from Washington said the suspect allegedly told FBI agents after his arrest that he had received training and explosive materials from al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Yemen.

The FBI chargesheet said the device strapped to Abdulmutallab contained PETN, or pentaerythritol, which is the same plastic explosive used by al-Qaeda operative Richard C Reid in his December 2001 attempt to destroy a USbound airliner by igniting a homemade bomb in his shoe.

Abdulmutallab, who had studied engineering at University College London, was issued a two-year US tourist visa in June 2008 in London and did not raise any red flags during screening before boarding Northwest Flight 253 at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of the most heavily secured air facilities in the world.

Reports also said that Abdulmutallab's name figured in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, which contains about 5,50,000 individuals. TIDE is a catch-all list into which all terroristrelated information is sent.