These days prospective travelers can easily find cheap airplane tickets or other means of cheap travel by simply going to one of the major travel Internet sites (such as Expedia, Cheapfares, or Orbitz) and searching for cheap fares. The key is to be ready to purchase low priced tickets once you find them since fares change constantly.
In the recent case of the 23 year old Nigerian who tried to blow up a Northwest plane on Christmas Day headed for Detroit plenty of red flags should have been raised:
1) The suspect visited Yemen, a country known for Al Qaeda activity, this year after receiving a visa to study Arabic.
2) The father of the suspect, a respected banker, contacted the US Embassy in Nigeria six weeks prior to the attack and described his son as dangerously radicalized and involved with militants in Yemen.
3) In November the suspect was placed in the US government terrorist database with reference to his possible extremist connections in Yemen.
4) The suspect purchased his round trip ticket on December 16th for travel on Christmas Day from Lagos, Nigeria to Detroit, paying $2,831 in cash.
Explosive material was sewn into the underwear of the suspect being accused of igniting it. The amount of explosive was sufficient to blow a hole in the plane.
If you knew what the authorities knew in advance, would you have put out an alert to at the very least ask airport security to give the suspect a pat down body search before allowing him to board a plane?