Originally Posted by Chris (Post 35116694)

I've been sat on a plane at Heathrow and had the captain come on the intercom to explain we can't depart because a passenger hasn't turned up ... and they can't go without him as he has a checked-in bag in the hold.

Waiting for the passenger was, apparently, marginally less wasteful of time than opening the hold to find and remove his bag.

Originally Posted by Rob (Post 35116589)

The type of explosive can't easily be detected by scanners, but the electronics needed to detonate can be. What they have been clever in doing is putting the explosives in a device where electronics are expected which might be sufficient to deceive anyone viewing a scanner.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 35116743)

What might not have been so clever

If the devices were to be triggered by cell phones - it is also highly doubtful they would have worked - especially in flight in an aircraft over a vast ocean where cell services is non-existent. It is also very unlikely a cellular device could even pick up the signal from inside a metal box contained inside a metal aircraft with shielding being a major obstacle to cellular reception.

I have taken this from a dodgy conspiracy site but my interest was origionally caught by a radio interview with a expert last night who said some thing very similar, doesn't seem to be any decent sources to back it up yet though.