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Dec 30, 2009

Failed attack on jet renews concerns over lack of TSA chief

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 30, 2009; A11

The failed terrorist attack on a packed airliner on Christmas has renewed concerns about the lack of stable leadership at the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. agency on the front lines in preventing exactly that kind of incident.

The TSA has been operating without a permanent top official for almost a year, a result of months of delay by the Obama administration and a political power play by a Republican senator opposed to collective bargaining by government workers.

The result, according to some transportation and security analysts, is an agency unable to muster the political will to make the alterations necessary to adapt to changing international threats.

"What doesn't get done as well is leadership and confident direction-setting," said Stewart A. Baker, who was a top official at the Department of Homeland Security in the Bush administration. "There are plenty of competent people at TSA. But when you are not a political appointee, you have to walk on eggshells a little."

Baker and others say they do not think the security failure of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 would have been avoided if President Obama's nominee -- former FBI agent and police detective Erroll Southers -- had been on the job Friday.

But they say they doubt that Acting Administrator Gale D. Rossides, a Bush appointee, has the political connections within the Obama White House and the Democratic Congress to reinvent the agency in ways that get ahead of terrorists.

"She's competent and knows the system well," said one transportation expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he regularly works with TSA officials. "But she doesn't want to rock the boat. She's basically there to keep the trains on the tracks."

Several analysts said Tuesday that the events of the past week highlight the need for a permanent TSA administrator to move quickly in a number of areas. They say the TSA must find the resources -- financial and otherwise -- to design a "checkpoint of the future" that anticipates emerging threats and to phase out metal-detector technology that dates to the early 1980s.

The agency also needs to design better ways to share and interpret the mountain of passenger data collected by U.S. and foreign agencies, they said. The suspect in Friday's incident, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, would not have been allowed to board the flight if warning signs about him had been properly shared, Obama said Tuesday.

And some experts say the new TSA administrator must be deeply knowledgeable about security and terrorism, and more willing to be aggressive in shaking up a seven-year-old bureaucracy that does not respond nimbly to current threats.

"It's critical," said Michael Boyd, an airline consultant based in Colorado. "We need an [H. Norman] Schwarzkopf type there who's going say, 'I'm going to start thinking like a terrorist.' We don't have that."

A spokesman for the TSA declined to comment on the critique.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer defended Rossides on Tuesday but reiterated the administration's demand that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) stop blocking Southers's nomination.

"The acting TSA administrator is very able, and we have a solid team of professionals at TSA," Pfeiffer said. "But Senator DeMint and others should put their short-term political interests aside and allow the Senate vote on the confirmation of the president's nominee to head the agency."

Obama nominated Southers on Sept. 11, nearly eight months after taking office, a delay that White House officials say was necessary to identify "the appropriate candidate" for the job.

In the wake of Friday's incident, Republicans have criticized the TSA and the Obama administration. But one of their own has single-handedly prevented new leadership at the agency. DeMint has refused to allow a vote on the nomination as long as Obama insists on permitting TSA workers to participate in collective bargaining negotiations, as other unionized government workers do.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," DeMint accused the administration of being intent on "unionizing and submitting our airport security to union bosses [and] collective bargaining."

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) criticized Republicans on Tuesday, accusing them of "playing politics with national security" by stalling the nomination.

"Despite his qualifications and being reported out by two Senate committees earlier this year, Republicans have decided to play politics with this nomination by blocking final confirmation," Reid said in a statement. "Not only is this a failed strategy, but a dangerous one as well with serious potential consequences for our country."

Reid vowed to force the nomination to a vote next month. But until that happens, or DeMint relents, the top TSA post will go unfilled.

In addition, the Senate has yet to decide when it will vote on Obama's choice to head the Customs and Border Protection agency, another key post in the fight against terrorism.

Longtime observers of airport security say the TSA vacancy will complicate efforts to implement effective procedures against efforts by terrorists to breach the system.

"During a time when security is so important and we need to think about the strategy going forward, we need to push politics aside," said Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association.

Many airport security improvements would require more intrusion, oversight

Image via Wikipedia

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 30, 2009; A03

Aviation security could be improved with the use of databases containing passengers' personal information, technology such as body scans and better information-sharing. But the changes would require greater tolerance of intrusions and far more effective government oversight, security specialists say.

Passengers probably would have to become accustomed to the feeling that authorities know a lot more about them, their families and their associates, and that they are being looked at by machines in intimate ways that once were unthinkable.

While the aviation security system can never be rendered inviolable, experts say, the lapses that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board his flight for Detroit on Christmas Day, allegedly packing enough plastic explosives to blow a hole in the plane, confirm repeated warnings about the chronic, costly shortcomings of government efforts to create better systems to screen travelers for bombs, weapons and other threats.

And since the failed attack, the debate about how to plug security gaps has provided new evidence of the tension between the desire to improve security and concerns about personal privacy.

Some security advocates say that, given the close call Friday, now is the time to redouble efforts to combine data systems, intelligence and high-tech scanning technology to improve screening. Terrorists won't be stopped by machines alone, the specialists say.

"They're not stupid. They know what we're looking for," said Stewart Baker, a former general counsel at the National Security Agency and a former assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security. "We need to begin looking more carefully and in a more nuanced way for terrorists, not just weapons. . . . That means we're going to have to end up getting used to the idea that the people who do the screening will know more about you."

Stalled efforts

Specialists say much is already known about how to improve security, pointing to the profile-intensive approach used in Israel, as well as information projects undertaken soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Those projects included an effort to build vast networks of supercomputers to instantly probe every passenger's background for clues about violent intentions.

But those efforts repeatedly foundered because of management missteps at the Department of Homeland Security and a backlash from privacy advocates and citizens who were wary of placing so much surveillance power in the hands of the government, according to government reports. The once-secret program known as CAPPS II, for example, was designed to use passengers' travel reservations, housing information, family ties, credit reports and other personal data to identify potential threats. But the program was sharply limited after protests against a Bush administration proposal that it be used to catch criminals as well as terrorists.

Privacy advocates said that if the government decides to embrace such a system more widely, it can be done only under exceedingly tight oversight and strict rules that mandate severe punishment for misuse.

"There has to be some evidence it will work," said James X. Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington. "And then there has to be accountability when it's abused."

Explaining the delays

Homeland security officials acknowledge the setbacks but say they are committed to overcoming them. They say mandates to minimize the impact of security on the aviation industry, the infrastructure challenges of installing equipment in airports and persistent concerns about privacy have contributed to delays. At the same time, officials point out, improvements have been put in place over the past eight years, including a cohesive workforce of screeners, better detection equipment for baggage and a relatively quick screening process.

"Since 9/11, DHS and TSA have made significant improvements to aviation security technology. We are driven by the ever-evolving threat environment to have adaptable, flexible technology that can address multiple threats," said Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. "We are committed to working through the inherent challenges we face in deploying new technology that meets all of these needs, to ensure the safety and security of the traveling public."

After the 2001 attacks, federal officials also pledged to create machines to automatically detect explosives, sense whether passengers are lying and scan materials for threats. The Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies have spent billions to develop information-sharing networks and other security systems, including spending more than $795 million for development of high-tech checkpoint screening equipment.

But according to government reports, the mismanagement of research, concerns about privacy and cost, and opposition from industry and Congress have hindered the widespread deployment of the systems at airports in the United States and abroad.

Also, a plan to help focus the development of better screening technology and procedures -- including a risk-based assessment of aviation threats -- is almost two years overdue, according to a report this fall by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

"TSA cannot ensure that it is targeting the highest priority security needs at checkpoints; measure the extent to which deployed technologies reduce the risk of terrorist attacks; or make needed adjustments to its [Passenger Screening Program] strategy," the GAO report said.

Checkpoint machines

At least 10 checkpoint-screening technology projects have been in development by Homeland Security's science and technology office, none of which has been widely deployed. Those projects include an "explosives trace portal" that uses puffs of air to dislodge bits of explosive materials to be analyzed by sensors.

The Bush administration rushed the machines into airports in 2006, even though "TSA officials were aware that tests conducted during 2004 and 2005 on earlier ETP models suggested they did not demonstrate reliable performance in an airport environment," the GAO found. The TSA halted the deployment later that year "due to performance problems and high installation costs." Much of the equipment was later sent to warehouses.

Another machine, called a "whole body imager," was designed to peer underneath passengers' clothing to find threatening objects or materials. But critics complained about the intrusiveness of the machines, which have not been deployed as widely as planned.

Dec 29, 2009

In online posts apparently by Detroit suspect, religious ideals collide

Image via CrunchBase

By Philip Rucker and Julie Tate
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 29, 2009; A01

The 23-year-old Nigerian man accused of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an American airliner apparently turned to the Internet for counseling and companionship, writing in an online forum that he was "lonely" and had "never found a true Muslim friend."

"I have no one to speak too [sic]," read a posting from January 2005, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was attending boarding school. "No one to consult, no one to support me and I feel depressed and lonely. I do not know what to do. And then I think this loneliness leads me to other problems."

The Washington Post reviewed 300 online postings under the name "farouk1986" (a combination of Abdulmutallab's middle name and birth year). The postings mused openly about love and marriage, his college ambitions and angst over standardized testing, as well as his inner struggle as a devout Muslim between liberalism and extremism. In often-intimate writings, posted between 2005 and 2007, he sought friends online, through Facebook and in Islamic chat rooms: "My name is Umar but you can call me Farouk." He often invited readers to "have your say" and once wrote, "May Allah reward you for reading and reward you more for helping."

Image via Wikipedia

A U.S. government official said late Monday that federal intelligence officials were reviewing the online postings but had not independently confirmed their authenticity.

Many of the biographical details in the writings, however, match up with facts already known about Abdulmutallab.

Farouk1986 wrote of being born in 1986 and having attended an elite British boarding school in Togo, where many of his classmates were British expatriates and students from around West Africa.

The postings also reference visits to London, the United States and other countries, including Egypt and Yemen. Department of Homeland Security officials said Monday that Abdulmutallab traveled to the United States in July 2004 to Washington and in August 2008 to Houston.

Farouk1986 wrote about considering applications to U.S. and British universities, including University College London, where officials said Abdulmutallab enrolled in a mechanical engineering course from September 2005 to June 2008. He also wrote about his family's wealth; Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a frequent visitor to the United States, retired this year as chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and still sits on the boards of several prominent Nigerian firms.

All of the postings are on the Islamic Forum Web site (http://www.gawaher.com), which uses a commercially available chat-forum software called IP.Board that automatically assigns dates to users' posts as they are created. Many of Farouk1986's postings drew comments from other forum members on the day they were written.

Taken together, the writings demonstrate an acute awareness of Western customs and a worldliness befitting Abdulmutallab's privileged upbringing as a wealthy Nigerian banker's son.

Embracing privilege

In a June 2005 posting, Farouk1986 wrote that he was in Yemen for a three-month Arabic course, saying that "it is just great." He described how many British people and Americans were in Sanaa, gushing about the capital's shopping and global cuisine (including, he noted, Pizza Hut and KFC).

The Yemeni Embassy said Monday that Abdulmutallab was in Yemen between August and December of this year to study Arabic at a language institute. He earlier spent time at the same institute, the embassy said.

Farouk1986 wrote often of the college admissions process, once describing his plans to study engineering at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley or the California Institute of Technology. But he also wrote of his disappointment in scoring a 1200 on the SAT. "I tried the SAT," he wrote in March 2005. "It was a disaster!!!"

On Facebook, Abdulmutallab's profile features a photo of him smiling, standing alongside two friends and wearing a sharp-looking pink polo shirt and sunglasses. He has 287 friends.

Fabrizio Cavallo Marincola, 22, who studied with Abdulmutallab at University College London, said Abdulmutallab graduated in May 2008 and showed no signs of radicalization or of links to al-Qaeda. "He always did the bare minimum of work," Marincola said of his classmate, who he said was nicknamed "Biggie."

"When we were studying, he always would go off to pray," Marincola continued. "He was pretty quiet and didn't socialize much or have a girlfriend that I knew of."

As a student at the British boarding school in Togo, Farouk1986 wrote that he was lonely because there were few other Muslims. "I'm active, I socialise with everybody around me, no conflicts, I laugh and joke but not excessively," he wrote in one posting seeking counseling from online peers. "I will describe myself as very ambitious and determined, especially in the deen. I strive to live my daily live [sic] according to the quran and sunnah to the best of my ability. I do almost everything, sports, TV, books . . . (of course trying not to cross the limits in the deen)." The deen is a religious way of life.

Ideals colliding

In his January 2005 posting about his loneliness, Farouk1986 wrote about the tension between his desires and his religious duty of "lowering the gaze" in the presence of women. "The Prophet (S) advised young men to fast if they can't get married but it has not been helping me much and I seriously don't want to wait for years before I get married," he wrote.

At 18, he added, he had not started searching for prospective partners because of social norms such as having "a degree, a job, a house, etc. before getting married." But, he said, "my parents I know could help me financially should I get married, even though I think they are also not going to be in favour of early marriage."

He also wrote of his "dilemma between liberalism and extremism" as a Muslim. "The Prophet (S) said religion is easy and anyone who tries to overburden themselves will find it hard and will not be able to continue," he wrote in 2005. "So anytime I relax, I deviate sometimes and then when I strive hard, I get tired of what I am doing i.e. memorising the quran, etc. How should one put the balance right?"

In December 2005, Farouk1986 wrote that his parents were visiting him in London and that he was torn about whether he could eat meat with them. "I am of the view meat not slaughtered by Muslims . . . is haram [forbidden] for consumption unless necessary," he wrote. "My parents are of the view as foreigners, we are allowed to . . . eat any meat. It occured [sic] to me I should not be eating with my parents as they use meat I consider haram. But I fear this might cause division and other complicated family problems."

He pleaded: "Please respond as quickly as possible as my tactic has been to eat outside and not at home till I get an answer."

Abdulmutallab, the youngest of 16 children and the son of the second of his father's two wives, was raised at the family home in Kaduna, a city in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north. At boarding school, Farouk was easygoing and studious, earning the sobriquet "Alfa," a local term for Muslim clerics, because of his penchant for preaching Islam to colleagues, according to family members.

"Farouk was a devoted Muslim who took his religion seriously and was committed to his studies," said an uncle. "He was such a brilliant boy and nobody in the family had the slightest thought he could do something as insane as this."

Although Farouk hardly ever stayed in Nigeria and would visit only for holidays, family members and neighbors on Ahman Pategi Street in the rich Unguwar Sarki neighborhood in Kaduna also said he was easygoing and passionate about Islam. "He was of course a very religious, polite and studious fellow," said a cousin, "but it was unthinkable that he would do anything close to attempting to bomb a plane."

Explosive in Detroit terror case could have blown hole in airplane, sources say

Image by david real 1 via Flickr

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 29, 2009; A01

A dangerous explosive allegedly concealed by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his underwear could have blown a hole in the side of his Detroit-bound aircraft if it had been detonated, according to two federal sources briefed on the investigation.

Authorities said they are still analyzing a badly damaged syringe that Abdulmutallab allegedly employed as a detonating device on Christmas Day. But preliminary conclusions indicate that he allegedly used 80 grams of PETN -- almost twice as much of the highly explosive material as used by convicted shoe bomber Richard C. Reid.

A day after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was "no indication" the incident was connected to a larger plot, there were increasing signs that the failed bombing may have represented one of the most serious terrorist threats in the United States since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

President Obama interrupted his vacation in Hawaii to declare that authorities "will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable." He also said he had ordered a review of the nation's terrorist watch-list system.

In a statement, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group based in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, asserted responsibility for the attempt to destroy the Northwest Airlines jet, saying it was a response to U.S.-backed airstrikes against the group in Yemen. Meanwhile, Yemen's government confirmed that Abdulmutallab was in the country from early August to early December after obtaining a visa to study Arabic at a language institute, and said that he had previously studied at the school.

Image by Peter Kaminski via Flickr

The suspect, 23, has told federal investigators that he had ties to al-Qaeda and that he had traveled to Yemen to collect the incendiary device he tried to use on the plane.

The Obama administration suffered blistering criticism for another day from national security experts and from Republican lawmakers, who demanded changes to the airline screening system and the use of more intrusive technology to detect explosives. Napolitano acknowledged on NBC's "Today" show Monday that "our system did not work in this instance. No one is happy or satisfied with that."

In London, Britain's home secretary, Alan Johnson, told the BBC that Abdulmutallab had been placed on a watch list in May and had been banned from entering the country. A British government source said the move came after Abdulmutallab, who in 2008 graduated from University College London, applied for a new visa to attend a college that was not deemed legitimate by authorities there.

Johnson said he also suspected Abdulmutallab may have been working with others: "We don't know yet whether it was a single-handed plot or were there other people behind it -- I suspect it's the latter rather than the former."

Law enforcement officials in the United States, Yemen, Nigeria and Britain spent a fourth day tracking the contacts and travel of Abdulmutallab, who is incarcerated on terrorism-related charges in Milan, Mich., 45 miles south of Detroit, until a bond hearing next week. His public defender, Miriam Siefer, did not return calls for comment.

Authorities remain particularly interested in the development of Abdulmutallab's radical beliefs. They are tracking Web postings and other communications he may have had with clerics in Yemen, including Anwar al-Aulaqi, who corresponded with the alleged Fort Hood, Tex., shooter, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, months before the Nov. 5 gunfire rang out on the Army's largest base, sources said.

Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr

Abdulmutallab's relatives issued a statement from their home in Abuja, Nigeria, describing attempts by his father, a prominent banker, to warn Nigerian intelligence agencies and the U.S. Embassy there "about a month and a half ago" and to seek help in regaining contact with his son.

"The disappearance and cessation of communication which got his mother and father concerned to report to the security agencies are completely out of character and a very recent development," the statement said.

Authorities said there was no reason to suspect Abdulmutallab of dangerous activity until his father visited the embassy in Abuja on Nov. 19. The next day, under a program called Visa Viper, mandated by Congress to ensure all terrorism-related information is promptly reported to Washington, the embassy sent a cable saying the father was "concerned that his son was falling under the influence of religious extremists in Yemen," a State Department official said.

The State Department, under existing procedures, passed the Viper information to the National Counterterrorism Center for entry in its terrorism database. Neither the State Department nor the NCTC, officials said Monday, checked to see if Abdulmutallab had ever entered the United States or had a valid entry visa -- information readily available in separate consular and immigration databases. "It's not for us to review that," the State Department official said.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Abdulmutallab has twice obtained U.S. visas, and before this month had visited the United States once in 2004 and once in 2008.

An intelligence official said that because Abdulmutallab had not previously been entered into the system as a terrorism suspect, procedures did not include such checks. Administration officials said these apparent gaps are among those to be studied in the review Obama has ordered.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said there should have been swift action after a prominent Nigerian alleged that his son was becoming radicalized.

"It seems to me that when this happens, the person should go automatically on the no-fly list," she said. "I'd rather, in the interest of protecting people, overreact rather than underreact."

"The Obama administration is flying solo on national security right now," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. Hoekstra said he wants to know more about Abdulmutallab's e-mail and other connections to radical clerics to determine whether red flags may have been missed.

"He also had no baggage. They knew he had been to Yemen. Come on, come on, come on. That is pretty suspicious," said Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), also a member of the House intelligence panel.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that at the time the latest visa was issued, "there was nothing in his application nor in any database at the time that would indicate that he should not receive a visa. He was a student at a very reputable school. He had plenty of financial resources, so he was not an intending immigrant. There was no derogatory information about him last year."

In its statement, translated by SITE Intelligence Group, a Bethesda-based analytic service, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula praised Abdulmutallab. It said he had "penetrated all modern and sophisticated technology and devices and security barriers in airports of the world, with courage and bravery, without fearing death and with seeking the help of Allah."

A senior Yemeni government official insisted that al-Qaeda affiliates in the country are not getting stronger. But the branch's assertion of responsibility, the official said, underscores that fighting terrorism is a global issue and that Yemen needs help in tackling terrorists inside its borders. The statement of responsibility, if deemed credible by U.S. intelligence agencies, may mark the first time al-Qaeda affiliates outside Afghanistan or Pakistan have targeted American soil.

One of the top leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is Said al-Shihri, 36, a Saudi national. He was captured in Pakistan in December 2001 and spent six years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before being transferred to Saudi Arabia in November 2007.

In Saudi Arabia, he entered a highly praised rehabilitation program that uses dialogue and art therapy to persuade former militants to renounce extremism. But after graduating, Shihri crossed the border into Yemen and rejoined al-Qaeda.

Correspondent Sudarsan Raghavan in Sanaa, Yemen; special correspondents Karla Adam in London and Aminu Abubakar in Nigeria; staff writers Anne E. Kornblut in Hawaii and Karen DeYoung and Carol D. Leonnig in Washington; and staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.

Dec 28, 2009

Equipment to detect explosives is available

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 28, 2009; A04

The explosive allegedly used in the failed bombing plot aboard a transatlantic jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day could have been detected by existing screening equipment, and the failure to do so reflects significant weaknesses in aviation security and intelligence, former U.S. government officials and international security experts said.

The compound that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly brought aboard Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam was PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate, the same plastic explosive used almost exactly eight years ago by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid, the FBI said. The attack sped the launch of the Transportation Security Administration, which took over and expanded airport security screening.

But technology and methods that might have detected the explosive have been deployed in airports on a limited basis in the face of concerns about privacy, cost and the potential to slow airport security lines.

The TSA and its counterpart in the Netherlands, where Amsterdam Schipohl Airport is regarded as one of the most secure in the world, have fielded two types of screening equipment able to detect PETN, a commonly used military and commercial explosive, even if hidden beneath clothing, experts said.

However, the first type, detectors that test swabs wiped on passengers and baggage for traces of explosives, weren't used because they are generally reserved for travelers who trigger added scrutiny. Abdulmutallab's name was not placed on TSA watch lists despite warnings by his father to the State Department, officials said.

Abdulmutallab also did not pass through the second type of machine, whole-body imaging scanners that use X-rays or radio waves to detect objects under clothing, equipment that is also used at Schipohl. Not all passengers are required to walk through the scanners, whose availability has been limited because of cost, opposition from privacy groups and industry concerns about bottlenecks.

"Security failed," said Doron Bergerbest-Eilon, Israel's senior-ranking counterterrorism officer from 1997 to 2000 and a former national regulator for aviation security. It is of little comfort that Abdulmutallab was stopped only after he allegedly failed to properly detonate the bomb, instead igniting a fire that alerted fellow passengers, Bergerbest-Eilon said.

"The system repeatedly fails to prevent attacks and protect passengers when challenged," he said, adding that, in the minds of security experts, "for all intents and purposes, Northwest Flight 253 exploded in midair."

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Abdulmutallab's case was isolated and noted that he was apprehended before damage was done. Although the suspect's name came up "somewhere, somehow" in the government's master terrorism database, information that would have stopped him was never entered on law enforcement watch lists, she said.

"Once this incident occurred, the system worked," Napolitano told ABC's "This Week," adding that the public is safe. U.S. and Dutch authorities are investigating, she said, but "have no suggestion" that screening was not properly done at Schipol. "You can't rely on just one part of your security system," she said. "You have to look at the system as a whole."

But Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism analyst at Georgetown University, called the suspect's ability to smuggle the device on board profoundly disturbing, given that the TSA has spent more than $30 billion on aviation security since 2004, the world's airlines collectively spend an additional $5.9 billion a year, and PETN is well-known as a favored material for terrorist suicide bombers.

"This incident was a compound failure of both intelligence and physical security, leaving prevention to the last line of defense -- the passengers themselves," Hoffman wrote in an e-mail. Several current and former U.S. security officials faulted delays in fielding new imaging scanners.

Michael Chertoff, homeland security secretary from 2005 to last January, said terrorists are exploiting a long-known vulnerability that has been extended by politicians' reluctance to spend the money and political capital needed to make imaging technology more widespread, and travelers' resistance to undergo thorough pat-down searches.

"While the technology does exist to detect such threats, it is not fully deployed," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence.

According to the TSA's Web site, the agency is using 40 radio wave imaging units at 19 airports nationwide, and in most cases, the units are used for passengers requiring added scrutiny. At six of those airports, the machines are used for primary, or first-level, screening in one security line. TSA has announced plans to field 878 units by 2014.

Privacy groups say whole-body imaging scanners conduct a "virtual strip search," and have mounted a campaign to stop what they predict will be the abuse of electronic images of naked individuals. In a nonbinding vote in June, the House overwhelmingly approved a measure to prevent scanners from being used for primary screening.

The International Air Transport Association, a trade group of 230 airlines, is urging U.S. and European regulators to re-engineer the aviation security system, noting that the volume of data that governments collect on travelers has mushroomed.

"We've spent eight years looking for little scissors and toenail clippers," said Ken Dunlap, IATA's director of security in North America. "Perhaps the emphasis should be looking for bad people."

Jacques Duchesneau, head of Canada's Air Transport Security Authority from 2002 to 2008, and Bergerbest-Eilon said that instead of trying to push virtually all travelers through similar screening processes, authorities should improve and expand the use of intelligence and behavioral assessments to cull out those deemed to pose the greatest risk, and target improved technology to find them.

While such methods have been "wrongly perceived as racial profiling," Bergerbest-Eilon said, "past events have taught us that we cannot rely on intelligence alone to thwart major terror attacks."

Dec 27, 2009

Fear and heroism aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 after attempted bombing

Image by Beverly & Pack via Flickr

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 27, 2009; A06

ANN ARBOR, MICH. -- First came an alarming popping sound, followed by silence, and then the unmistakable smell of smoke. Passengers began to shout and scream on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam.

"People were just running, and they were scared," said Veena Saigal, who turned from her seat on the Christmas Day flight and saw the fire's glow six rows back. "They were running toward the center of the plane, running to get away from the flames."

Jasper Schuringa, an Amsterdam resident, lunged toward the fire in Row 19, jumping from one side of the plane to the other and over several other passengers. He burned his fingers as he grabbed a piece of melting plastic held by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused Saturday of trying to bring down the passenger jet with a homemade explosive device.

Schuringa, a video producer, restrained Abdulmutallab as others used blankets and fire extinguishers to douse the flames.

"When I saw the suspect, that he was getting on fire, I freaked, of course, and without any hesitation I just jumped over all the seats," Schuringa told CNN on Saturday. "And I jumped to the suspect. I was thinking like, he's trying to blow up the plane."

The stretch of time from bafflement to abject fear to a calamity averted lasted just a few minutes on the flight, yet as they replayed those moments from their homes on Saturday, passengers described a drama that left many shaken long after the jetliner safely touched down.

"We heard a pop, then the smell and the reality kicked in for all of us. The reality was the fear in the flight attendants' eyes," said Charles Keepman, a Wisconsin businessman returning from Ethiopia, where he and his wife had adopted two children. "We're just thankful to the Lord that we were spared."

Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, praised the quick reactions of those on the plane, which recalled the heroism of passengers who had subdued so-called shoe-bomber Richard C. Reid as he tried to ignite chemicals on a flight in December 2001 and the actions of people on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I am grateful to the passengers and crew aboard Northwest Flight 253 who reacted quickly and heroically to an incident that could have had tragic results," Napolitano said in a statement Saturday.

The flight from Amsterdam to Detroit seemed long and uneventful until the final minutes, passengers said. Witnesses told the FBI that Abdulmutallab, 23, spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom before returning to Seat 19A and complaining of an upset stomach. He pulled a blanket over his head.

Then came the loud and sudden popping sound.

"What I heard was a firecracker, like a champagne bottle opening. I thought maybe something happened to a window or something hit the plane," said Saigal, who was returning to Ann Arbor from India in Row 13. "Then I smelled the smoke. When I turned around, I could see the fire glow."

Schuringa, on his way to Miami for vacation, leaped from the other side of the plane toward the fire as it spread from Abdulmutallab's pants to pillows on the floor. He said he reacted without thinking, fearful that the fire would cause an explosion that would bring down the plane and nearly 300 passengers and crew members.

As other passengers shouted for water, Schuringa pulled the melted plastic syringe from Abdulmutallab, shook it and threw it to the floor, the FBI said in an affidavit. Flight attendant Dionne Ransom-Monroe asked the suspect what was in his pocket, the FBI said, and he replied, "Explosive device."

The fire out, Schuringa marched Abdulmutallab to the front of the plane, helped by a flight attendant. They stripped off some of his clothes, searched him for weapons and handcuffed him, Schuringa said on CNN, explaining that the suspect seemed almost in a trance. Abdulmutallab said nothing and did not resist, he said.

"He looked like a normal guy," Schuringa said. "It's just hard to believe he was actually trying to blow up this plane."

Saigal, 63, said Schuringa "was holding him from the back, with a strong grip."

"When he went back to his seat, we all clapped," Saigal said of Schuringa.

Passengers and crew members worked to restore calm as the jet sped toward Detroit. Syed Jafry, an engineering consultant from Ohio who watched from Row 16, said the captain told passengers over the intercom: "There was an incident, and everything is under control. It is over. Fasten your seat belts. We are about to land."

As investigators explore how Abdulmutallab allegedly smuggled power and chemicals aboard the flight, Saigal and Keepman voiced distinctly different views of security in Amsterdam, the airliner's last stop before reaching Detroit.

"They're very thorough," Saigal said. "Always in Amsterdam, you go through people questioning you . . . and they put your hand baggage, your purse -- not your shoes -- through security again."

Keepman, however, said security procedures in Amsterdam seemed less rigorous than the measures he had faced at the Detroit airport on his outbound flight.

"I have to be honest, it was lax compared to here," said Keepman, who co-owns a transportation logistics company. "They push you through quite quickly, especially on international flights, because there are so many people to get through."

Keepman was not impressed with the questioning session.

"They ask the questions," Keepman said. "But the person's going to look you right in the eye and lie to you: 'Are you carrying something that could explode on the plane?' 'Certainly not, sir.' "

Dec 26, 2009

Additional Layer of Restrictions Is Imposed on Airline Passengers

Image via Wikipedia

By MICHELINE MAYNARD and LIZ ROBBINS

In the wake of the terrorism attempt Friday on a Northwest Airlines flight, federal officials on Saturday imposed a new layer of restrictions on travelers that could lengthen lines at airports and limit the ability of international passengers to move about an airplane.

Among other steps being imposed, passengers on international flights coming to the United States will apparently have to remain in their seats for the last hour of a flight without any personal items on their laps. Overseas passengers will be restricted to only one carry-on item aboard the plane, and domestic passengers will probably face longer security lines.

The restrictions will again change the routine of air travel, which has undergone an upheaval since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001 and three attempts at air terrorism since then.

Just a day after the attempt on Friday, travelers at airports around the world began experiencing heightened screening in security lines. On one flight, from Newark Airport, flight attendants kept cabin lights on for the entire trip instead of dimming them for takeoff and landing.

The limits, which brought to mind some of the most stringent policies after the 2001 attacks, come at a difficult time for the airline industry.

Travel has declined about 20 percent since 2008 because of the economy, and airlines have been dealing with numerous delays the past week because of snowstorms on the East Coast and in the Midwest.

Airline industry executives said the new steps would complicate travel as vacationers return home from Christmas trips, and could also cause travelers to cancel plans for flights in 2010.

But the Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, said in a statement Saturday that passengers should proceed with their holiday plans and “as always, be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior or activity to law enforcement officials.”

The Transportation Security Administration, which governs security at airports and on airplanes in the United States, had no immediate comment on the steps.

The T.S.A. planned to add more security resources as needed on a daily basis, a person with knowledge of the agency’s plans said. The person said travelers would not experience the same thing at every airport, and that the system would be unpredictable by design.

Two foreign airlines, Air Canada and British Airways, disclosed the steps in notices on their Web sites. The airlines said the rules had been implemented by government security agencies including the T.S.A.

“Among other things,” the statement in Air Canada’s Web site read, “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.”

The suspect in the Friday attempt, identified as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, tried to ignite his incendiary device in the final hour of the flight while the plane was descending into Detroit.

On its Web site, American Airlines said the T.S.A. had ordered new measures for flights departing from foreign locations to the United States, including mandatory screening of all passengers at airport gates during the boarding process. All carry-on items would be screened at security checkpoints and again at boarding, the airline said. It urged passengers to leave extra time for screening and boarding.

In effect, the restrictions mean that passengers on flights of 90 minutes or less would most likely not be able to leave their seats at all, since airlines do not allow passengers to walk around the cabin while a plane is climbing to its cruising altitude.

The new restrictions began to be instituted Saturday on flights from Canada and Europe to the United States. Air Canada said it was waiving fees for the first checked bag, and it told passengers to be prepared for delays, cancellations and missed connections because of the new limits.

At airport terminals Saturday, travelers recounted the immediate differences they experienced. Though passengers arriving from Frankfurt passed speedily through United States customs at Kennedy Airport in New York, they said that in Germany the security was intensified.

“I really was surprised,” Eva Clesle said about the level of scrutiny in Frankfurt, adding that officials had inspected backpacks by opening “every single zip.”

In Rochester, one passenger waiting in a security line said she saw other passengers removed for additional screening.

The security administration, created in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, has emergency power to impose restrictions on air travel without consulting the airlines. Its steps have undergone modification in the past, however.

After the 2001 attacks, passengers bound for or leaving Reagan National Airport in Washington were not allowed to leave their seats for the first and last 30 minutes of a flight. The restriction was lifted in 2005.

Passengers still have to remove their shoes before entering screening machines, however, a step instituted at many airports and subsequently made mandatory after Richard C. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, tried to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001 by igniting explosives in his shoes.

Sarah Maslin Nir contributed reporting.

Oct 29, 2009

Singer, David Carroll, Uses Video to Complain About United Airlines - NYTimes.com

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By CHRISTINE NEGRONI

United Airlines learned its lesson the hard way that David Carroll was not just another customer.

After baggage handlers at United broke his guitar last summer and the airline refused to pay for the $1,200 repair, Mr. Carroll, a Canadian singer, created a music video titled “United Breaks Guitars” that has been viewed more than 5.8 million times. United executives met with him and promised to do better.

So how was Mr. Carroll’s most recent flight on United?

This Everyman symbol of the aggrieved traveler was treated, well, like just another customer. United lost his bag.

In an interview, Mr. Carroll said that for more than an hour on Sunday, he was told he could not leave the international baggage claim area at Denver International Airport, where he had flown from Saskatchewan. He said he had been told to stay because his bag was delayed, not lost, and he had to be there to claim it when it came down the conveyor belt.

“I’m the only person pacing around this room,” Mr. Carroll said, recalling how he was caught between an order from United staff members to stay and collect his bag, and a federal customs official telling him he had to leave the baggage claim area. The bag never showed.

A United Airlines spokeswoman, Robin Urbanski, said, “We will fully investigate what regretfully happened.”

Mr. Carroll’s life has taken more surprising routes than his luggage. He enjoyed modest popularity as a singer-songwriter in Canada until his video, which has made him a sought-after speaker on customer service.

His father-in-law, Brent Sansom, has become his business adviser to help him sort requests.

This latest episode provided him with fresh material for his most recent performance, which was why he was flying on United — to speak to a group of customer service executives on Tuesday (though without his best shoes and “United Breaks Guitars” CDs that were in his still missing suitcase).

When Mr. Carroll asked members of the audience if they ever had a similar problem, he saw a sea of hands.

“It crosses all income levels and languages and geographies,” he said. “We all don’t like feeling disrespected or insignificant.”

Greg Gianforte, the founder and chief executive of RightNow, a customer service software company, and the person who organized the meeting, said he was sorry to hear what happened to Mr. Carroll, even if it made for a livelier meeting.

“We were thrilled to have Dave come here,” Mr. Gianforte said. “But since United was the only carrier he could take from Canada to Colorado Springs, in a certain sense, we’re responsible.”

Mr. Carroll was reunited with his bag on Wednesday morning.

Oct 15, 2009

Cracking Down on How Airlines Treat Travelers - WSJ.com

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

DOT Presses Carriers To Comply With Rules On Delayed Luggage

By SCOTT MCCARTNEY

Many airlines may be violating federal rules on reimbursing travelers for expenses when baggage is lost, delayed or damaged on domestic flights, and the federal government is finally cracking down to help consumers.

Taking a tougher stand on how airlines treat travelers, the Department of Transportation fined Spirit Airlines $375,000 last month for multiple violations of federal rules, including violations of domestic baggage-reimbursement requirements. Late last week, the DOT warned other carriers that their baggage-reimbursement policies appear to violate federal rules, too. "We have learned that a number of airlines have adopted policies that purport to limit reimbursement for such expenses in a variety of ways," the DOT said in its notice to airlines Friday.

A Wall Street Journal examination of practices at 14 airlines shows that many carriers have some of the same restrictions that resulted in the official censure of Spirit Airlines. One violation cited by the DOT was that Spirit made customers wait 24 hours after luggage was lost or delayed before covering any incidental costs travelers had to pay, such as toiletries or replacement clothes. DOT rules prohibit such waiting periods. The agency also said Spirit reimbursed customers for incidental expenses only if bags went missing on the outbound portion of a round-trip journey, yet the DOT's rule applies to "any flight segment."

"Travelers should not have to pay for toiletries or other necessities while they wait for baggage misplaced by airlines," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "We expect airlines to comply with all of our regulations and will take enforcement action if they do not."

The DOT gave airlines 90 days to modify their rules and practices before the agency would launch any enforcement actions.

Lost or delayed bags are relatively rare—about one traveler out of every 190 on domestic flights ended up at the baggage office empty-handed last year. And airlines say most people get their bags back within a day or two. Still, a large number of people are impacted by the uncertainty, inconvenience and expense of lost luggage. In 2008, more than three million mishandled-baggage reports were filed by airlines, and that just covers domestic flights.

Part of Spirit's response to the DOT was that its baggage policies were consistent with those of several other airlines. Indeed, Continental Airlines Inc., Hawaiian Airlines and Allegiant Air, for example, all say they pay for expenses only after the first 24 hours from a flight's arrival. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines says it reimburses expenses only on the outbound portion of a trip.

And many airlines put a limit on what they'll offer to pay passengers per day for expenses related to the lost luggage, which the DOT says is a violation of its domestic baggage-liability rule. The only limit allowed, the agency says, is that total liability for lost domestic baggage is $3,300 per passenger, including replacement costs and incidental expenses.

Long-Standing Gripes

Travelers have been complaining about such restrictions for years. In January 2007, this newspaper charted baggage-reimbursement policies at different airlines and reported on customer unhappiness with airline reimbursement. But the DOT didn't explore the issue until a few months ago.

In our latest survey over the past week, Continental said its reimbursement to travelers for delayed or lost luggage tops out at $200—$50 a day for four days after a 24-hour waiting period. United says it will pay $50 to $100 a day. US Airways Group Inc. has a less-generous limit of $25 a day for up to three days.

Alaska Airlines says it doesn't provide interim expenses to passengers for baggage delayed or lost because of bad weather or air-traffic-control problems. When it does pay, Alaska limits its liability to $25 for the first day a bag is missing, then ups that to $50 a day for the next four days.

Allegiant, a unit of Allegiant Travel Co., says it pays $25 a day for four days, but that only begins 24 hours after a bag has gone missing.

Hawaiian, a unit of Hawaiian Holdings Inc., limits payments to $30 a day for three days. JetBlue Airways Corp. says its "standard" payment is $25 per day, but like other airlines it considers higher amounts on a case-by-case basis.

Continental said it was evaluating what changes it may need to make to its policy to ensure it is in compliance with the DOT regulation. Virgin America, which said it reimburses $25 a day for five days, then amended that statement to say it may pay more if customers provide receipts; the airline said it asked the DOT on Monday for "further clarity" to determine if it is in compliance. Allegiant says it has asked the DOT "for clarification on a few items.'' Others said they believe they are in compliance.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines says it has no daily limit and will negotiate with customers, but it does require customers to get prior approval from the airline for any expense. Southwest Airlines says it offers customers $50 on the spot when luggage goes missing, and will pay more if passengers file formal claims.

Case-By-Case Basis

After the DOT warning was issued, many airlines stressed that they consider their reimbursement limits, sometimes included in published materials given to passengers, to be only "guidelines" and that higher amounts can be paid on a case-by-case basis. That may be news to some customers who get told there's a tight limit to what the airline will pay.

In 2007, when The Wall Street Journal charted baggage-reimbursement policies, Delta Air Lines Inc. said it limited customers to $25 a day for five days. This week Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said that amount is offered "in many cases, but because we handle these types of issues on a case-by-case basis the compensation could be more depending on the situation."

Likewise in 2007, AirTran Airways said it had a limit of $25 a day for three days. After the DOT warning was issued Friday, a spokesman for AirTran said it had no arbitrary limit. Asked when the policy changed, AirTran, a unit of AirTran Holdings Inc., didn't respond.

Arbitrary Expense Limits

The DOT said it considers "any arbitrary limits on expense reimbursement incurred in cases involving lost, damaged or delayed baggage to violate" its baggage rule, 14 CFR Part 254. The rule says an airline can't "limit its liability for provable direct or consequential damages...to an amount less than $3,300 for each passenger." It applies to any flight with more than 60 seats, or any passenger whose itinerary includes a flight using an aircraft with more than 60 seats.

Airlines say they delay any help with incidental expenses for 24 hours because bags often show up during that first 24-hour period. However, excluding the first 24 hours can greatly reduce airline payments to customers for incidentals.

And that policy leaves travelers in the lurch—typically they don't know when or even if the bag will turn up. If you need a tie for your presentation in the morning, you may have to buy one even though your bag may be delivered to your hotel at 10 p.m.

Travelers complain they often have to battle with airlines to cover the cost of lost items.

Borrowing Clothes

David Pykon, a New York hedge-fund trader, says he was given conflicting information by different American Airlines supervisors on daily expenses after his bag was lost on a Thanksgiving trip to Dallas last year. Although he had no clothes or toiletries, he was first told he had to limit his spending to $25 a day. Then he was told $50 a day. Later another official said $75 a day. Mr. Pykon borrowed clothes from friends but still spent nearly $200 over his four-day trip, and the airline gave him a check before his flight home for $170.

"They said tough luck—it is what it is," he said.

American spokesman Tim Smith said some of Mr. Pykon's expenses may not have been pre-authorized.

The bag was never found and Mr. Pykon filed a claim for more than $2,600. He included credit-card statements showing purchases. American sent a check for $740, saying it accepted only actual store receipts, and didn't cover electronics (he had lost an iPod), medication and sunglasses, he said. The airline discounted the value of other items for depreciation.

Mr. Pykon said he wrote to American three times, called repeatedly and was never allowed to speak to the person who handled his claim. (His credit-card company covered much of the loss the airline refused to pay.)

"It's easier for them to frustrate me," Mr. Pykon said of the airline. "A person is only going to take it so far."

American says it hopes its processes aren't frustrating and inconsistent. "We try to be fair and listen to what the customer needs," Mr. Smith said.

Aug 28, 2009

Singapore Airlines Earns First Place Among Singapore Companies in the Asia 200 Survey - WSJ.com

By CRIS PRYSTAY

It's been one of the toughest years yet for Singapore Airlines. The company reported a net loss of 307.1 million Singapore dollars (US$212.5 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with a net profit of S$358.6 million a year earlier -- the airline's first quarterly loss in six years. Singapore Airlines carried 19% fewer passengers in June 2009 compared with the same month last year; it also carried 19% less freight. Flight schedules have been cut and some routes have been axed. The hours and pay of staff and management have been trimmed.

"This particular recession is a more severe test than any other downturn I can recall in the last 25 years," says Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng.

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Methodology: How did we go about identifying Asia's top 200 companies?

All that bad news, however, hasn't fazed the public one bit. Singapore Airlines, the world's largest airline by market capitalization, once again landed in first place as the most-admired Singapore company in the Asia 200 survey of subscribers of The Wall Street Journal Asia and other businesspeople.

The airline has been voted Singapore's top company every year since 1993, when the Asia 200 survey began. It's the only company in Asia to win its country's first-place ranking every single year. Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's investment fund, owns 54% of Singapore Airlines

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest telephone company by market capitalization, was ranked second in the survey, and United Overseas Bank placed third. This year, Singapore Airlines ranked first in most subcategories, including reputation, quality of service and products, innovation in responding to customer needs and long-term management vision. It ranked fourth, however, in the category of financial reputation, reflecting concerns about the tough environment faced by airlines world-wide.

Singapore Airlines dominates the survey each year because the company consistently delivers on its brand promise: the airline boasts top-tier service, the latest in-flight entertainment and amenities, and one of the youngest fleets in the sky. The company, meanwhile, has continued to invest in new planes and staff training throughout the global economic crisis. Singapore Airlines has 10 more A380s, 11 more A330s, 20 Boeing 787s and 20 Airbus A350s on order today. There have been no cuts in core areas of service and fleet renewal, despite continued pressure on the bottom line, says Mr. Chew.

"That's kept us in good stead," he says. "It shows we are committed to staying true to our core values, our market positioning and the identity of the company."

The average age of Singapore's fleet right now is 6 years old, which puts it way ahead of the pack. The average fleet age of airlines world-wide is 14 or 15 years, according to Corrine Png, head of regional transportation research at J.P. Morgan. "This generates customer appeal," she says. "People are excited about traveling on the newest aircraft with the best technology."

Asian airlines are widely perceived to have among the best service in the world, and within Asia, Singapore Airlines sits at the apex. "Customer service is the cornerstone of our business strategy," says Mr. Chew. Any airline can buy the same aircraft with the latest gadgets, he says. It's the operating systems and the people that set SIA apart. The airline makes optimal use of its customer-relationship management software, so staff can tell what meals, drinks or extras its regular customers prefer. Staff members receive continuing training on both technical matters and customer-service skills. "We've managed, over the years, to inculcate that into our corporate DNA," Mr. Chew says. "We've honed it so it's not just one or two flights that you get good service on; it's all flights."

Employees buy into the service mantra when they join the airline. Last year, a flight attendant named Caroline Chou noticed an Indian passenger, who suffered from sclerosis, had fallen ill on a flight from Los Angeles to Coimbatore. The plane landed for a stopover in Taipei, where Ms. Chou was due a few days off. She escorted the man and his family to a hospital, and stepped in to translate for the Mandarin-speaking doctors. Although she wasn't required to, Ms. Chou visited the family on her days off. When the family was informed the man could continue his journey only on a flight equipped with specialized medical equipment, Ms. Chou helped source the equipment and get authorization from various authorities to take the gear on board.

Providing the latest technology and attentive staff has helped make SIA the airline of choice for many business travelers. Singapore Airlines earns 60% of its revenue from business and first class; other Asian airlines earn, on average, 20% of their revenue from premium seats, according to Ms. Png.

To be sure, there is continued turbulence ahead. Mr. Chew, who has worked for the airline since 1972 and served as the CEO for six years, reckons this is the worst environment in decades, and doesn't anticipate a quick economic recovery. Past periods of economic turmoil, like the 1998 Asian economic crisis, the 2003 outbreak of SARS and even the dotcom crash, were largely regional in nature, so falling demand from one part of the world was largely offset by other regions, says Mr. Chew. This time the impact is global. The rest of the year will remain tough, and the prospect of a recovery in 2010 depends entirely on how governments around the world manage their economies and how consumers respond, says Mr. Chew.

There are some signs that while things have yet to get better, it's at least stopped getting worse. The decline in SIA's forward bookings has leveled off, which is good news. But the situation has yet to improve. The airline warned that it could post its first-ever annual loss if conditions didn't improve.

The company has moved to stem costs. Capacity has been cut by 11% for the current fiscal year by trimming routes and grounding planes. In June, the airline announced management would take a 10% pay cut, and the CEO and board pay would be cut by 20%. Pilots agreed to take one day unpaid leave a month and a salary cut equivalent to 65% of one day's salary per month. Agreements negotiated with staff unions, meanwhile, include a large variable component that links pay to the company's performance. When the company announced its quarterly loss last month, it also said that pay for 12,000 staff based in Singapore would be cut by 10% for at least three months starting Aug. 1

"Right now, our challenge is to manage our costs so we can keep our noses above water, and put us in a position to ride the upturn when things pick up," says Mr. Chew. "We also need to manage resources so we can uphold the values and the business strategy of the company."

Dec 30, 2009

Dec 29, 2009

Dec 28, 2009

Dec 27, 2009

Dec 26, 2009

Oct 29, 2009

Oct 15, 2009

DOT Presses Carriers To Comply With Rules On Delayed Luggage

By SCOTT MCCARTNEY

Long-Standing Gripes

Case-By-Case Basis

Arbitrary Expense Limits

Borrowing Clothes

Aug 28, 2009

By CRIS PRYSTAY