ROMULUS: Hearing postponed for man accused of trying to blow up airplane

DETROIT — A federal hearing has been postponed for a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day.

The hearing, originally planned for Monday at U.S. District Court in Detroit, is set for 2 p.m. Jan. 8.

The hearing is for a government warrant for a DNA sample from Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who is believed to have acted with the al-Qaida terrorist organization.

Abdulmutallab is not expected to attend the hearing.

Reports published Monday said that an al-Qaida group based in the Arabian Peninsula is claiming responsibility for the aborted attack. The group said it was in retaliation for U.S. intelligence that allowed Yemen to make air strikes against al-Qaida.

President Barack Obama addressed the nation Monday afternoon about airline security and steps the government is taking to protect people, saying he will not rest until everyone involved is found.

“We will disrupt, dismantle and defeat those who threaten us,” he said.

Enhanced safety measures at airports were swiftly implemented after the botched attempt to blow up the plane, but airports officials said they haven’t caused undue delays or excessive lines for travelers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport

“(Monday) the check-in lines were longer than normal, but it’s expected for the holiday,” said Michael Conway, Detroit Metro’s director of public affairs.

He said there wasn’t any waiting at security lines.

“Things seem to be going really well and passengers are being really cooperative,” Conway said.

Those passengers likely will have less freedom to move around airplanes during flights, among other security measures imposed after Abdulmutallab tried to ignite an explosive as the plane prepared to land in Detroit.

Instead of exploding, the bomb ignited Abdulmutallab’s legs.

He was arraigned Saturday from the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor before being transferred to a federal prison in Milan.

He is charged with attempting to destroy or wreck an aircraft and placing a destructive device in a plane.

There were about 300 people on the aircraft.

Then, on Sunday, police met another Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight after the crew reported a “verbally disruptive passenger.”

Law enforcement officials said the man posed no security risk to the plane and was only ill.

The Transportation Security Administration didn’t detail the airport restrictions, saying they don’t want terrorists to know about potential security measures. They also declined to say how long the measures would be in effect and said the limits could vary by airport.

“Expect the unexpected,” Conway advised fliers. “You may be getting additional or random screening questions that you haven’t been asked before.”

Paula Evans Neuman of Wyandotte, the News-Herald’s Life & Leisure editor, took a flight out of Metro Airport on Saturday morning. She said there weren’t any noticeable backups or delays at the airport, but she did see extra security.

“They searched my purse even after they already checked me,” she said.

Neuman said that right before she boarded the plane an airport security representative checked the purse she was carrying on. She said she isn’t nervous about flying home.

“If you don’t fly, then you help them,” she said. “You have to be normal.”

While Friday’s incident was going on, travelers on incoming international flights said attendants removed blankets, banned opening overhead bins and told passengers to stay seated with their hands in plain sight.

In Philadelphia, sisters Leslie and Lillian Bernal said security was much tighter as they returned from the Dominican Republic than it had been in September, when they made the same trip.

Leslie, 26, said security screeners in Santo Domingo asked her to lift her long hair so they could look at her back.

“I don’t mind at all,” she said. “I’d rather them do what they have to do.”

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, TV screens were tuned to a football game, and some passengers were only faintly aware of the incident in Detroit.

Jeff Fox of Alpharetta, Ga., who was returning from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he will tolerate new restrictions if officials believe they will keep passengers safer.

“I’m one of those who trusts that they’re trying to do the right thing, even if it is a pain,” he said.

Representatives for the airlines said they aren’t too concerned about people not flying. There is no talk of panic, said Jack Riepe of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

“We’re not looking at massive cancellations,” he said.

Riepe said, however, that corporate travel managers want the government to explain how Friday’s suspect reached Detroit even though he was on a watchlist maintained by counterterrorism experts.

Obama has asked for those answers, too, and has ordered reviews of the watchlist, policies and procedures.

U.S. officials said the suspect’s father raised concerns about him to them several weeks ago, but the information was too vague to act upon.

Darryl Jenkins, an airline industry consultant, predicted that any increase in airport lines would be temporary, until screeners become proficient at operating under new rules.

U.S. airlines have been appealing to federal officials to make restrictions effective but palatable.

They remember that passengers accepted tough security measures after the 2001 terrorist attacks, which grounded all flights for several days, but that support waned as time went on.

(Associated Press Writer David Koenig contributed to this report.)