Buffalo's International Airport has implemented immediate security updates:
All vehicles coming into parking ramp area will be stopped and searched
No liquids can be carried on Plane with the only exception of Formula and Insulin-
These steps were just announced on Morning news 5:30 am

This story broke over night -

Major Terror Plot Disrupted in Britain
21 Arrested for Planning to Use Explosives Smuggled in Hand Luggage
By DANICA KIRKA, AP

LONDON (Aug. 10) - British police said Thursday they had arrested 21 people in connection with a terror plot against airlines traveling from Britain to the U.S. which was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale."

Most European carriers canceled flights to Heathrow because of the massive delays created after authorities enforced strict new regulations banning most hand baggage.

London's Heathrow airport, the busiest airport in Europe, was closed to most European flights Thursday morning after officials raised Britain's national security alert to its highest level - suggesting a terrorist attack may imminent. Huge crowds formed at security barriers.

Police carried out the arrests overnight in London, its suburbs and Birmingham as part of a major covert counterterrorism operation that had lasted several months, Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said. The identities of those arrested were not immediately released.

Police said searches were continuing in a number of locations.

"We have been very successful in arresting those we were targeting but this is a lengthy operation, and no doubt there will be further developments," Stephenson told reporters outside the headquarters of the Metropolitan police.

"We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot and we are confident that we've prevented and attempt to committee mass murder on an unimaginable scale," he said.

He declined to how many aircraft may have been targeted, or which airports might have been involved. He also refused to say whether the suspects were British citizens or foreigners.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, had briefed President Bush on the situation overnight, Blair's office said. There was no immediate public reaction from the White House. Bush is spending a few days at his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said the alleged plot was "significant" and that terrorists aimed to "bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life."

The U.S. government responded to the announcement by raising its threat alert to its highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States amid fears the plot had not been completely crushed.

"We believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

It is the first time the red alert level in the Homeland Security warning system has been invoked, although there have been brief periods in the past when the orange level was applied. Homeland Security defines the red alert as designating a "severe risk of terrorist attacks."

Chertoff added, however, there was no indication of current plots within the U.S.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people - possibly as many as 50 - were involved in the plot, which "had a footprint to al-Qaida back to it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The plan involved airline passengers hiding masked explosives in carry-on luggage, the official said. "They were not yet sitting on an airplane," but were very close to traveling, the official said, calling the plot "the real deal."

Passengers in Britain faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country's airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights. Laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among the items banned from being carried on board.

Liquids, such as hair care products, were also barred, raising the possibility that authorities were searching for a liquid explosive.

"I'm terrified really, I'm really scared," said Sarah Challiner, 20, who was waiting to board a flight from Manchester's airport.

Hannah Pillinger, 24, seemed less concerned by the announcement. "Eight hours without an iPod, that's the most inconvenient thing," she said, waiting at the Manchester airport.

Most European carriers canceled flights to Heathrow because of the massive delays created after authorities enforced strict new regulations banning most hand baggage.

Heathrow's block on incoming traffic applied to flights of three hours or less, affecting most of the incoming traffic from Europe, an airport spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with airport policy.

Officials at Frankfurt's airport, Europe's second-busiest, Schiphol in Amsterdam and Charles De Gaulle in Paris said Heathrow-bound planes could instead land at their airports if they needed to.

London's Heathrow airport was the departure point for a devastating terrorist attack on a Pan Am airplane on Dec. 21, 1988. The blast over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people on the ground.

The explosive was hidden in a portable radio which was hidden in checked baggage.

A Scottish court convicted Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi of the bombing in 2001 and sentenced him to life imprisonment. A second Libyan was acquitted.

In 2003, Libya officially accepted responsibility for the attack and agreed to pay relatives of each bombing victim at least $5 million.

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I remember PanAm 103 all too well. I had just gotten home from Syracuse airport…

Here's a link to a story describing the effects on British travelers.

Oh sure… we can relax our vigilance… sure we can.

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The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
-- H. L. Mencken

THANKS for link /
Our level is back down to orange; but stop and searches of all cars going into ramp area caught everyone offguard.

I saw some of the lines of people who are flying out and they had't processed yet- and we aren't a very busy airport

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I don't know about that… every time I've ever flown out of Buffalo it's been a madhouse.

Although I must say that y'all have lovely TSA people. Really.

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The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
-- H. L. Mencken

Looks like our threat level for flights has been raised but our overall nationa's threat level has not changed. I'm kinda surprised at that.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/10/us.security/index.html

"The U.S. threat level has been raised to the highest level of "severe," or red, for commercial flights originating in the United Kingdom bound for the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In addition, the threat level has been raised to "high," or orange for all commercial flights operating in or coming to the United States, the DHS statement said.

The nation's overall terror threat level has not been altered."

We have family coming in from Heathrow this weekend and family traveling internationally next week. My Dh travels each week domestically, so this stuff really stresses me out.

Locally (I'm in a small air market, Raleigh-Durham), I am impressed how the security response on a state level has responded well to this latest threat. No, nothing is perfect and unfortunately those horrible terrorists only need to right once, we have to be right EVERYTIME.

Those who don't believe terror is real and these people want to kill us -every single one of us - wake up and smell the coffee you can no longer bring onto the plane as you board.

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Debbie

"Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." --Benjamin Franklin

We were going to take our kids to Nia Falls this weekend. It doesn't involve an airport, but I don't think that is where I want to be if something happens. Plans canceled. I don't know if I'll ever feel safe going to a well populated tourist attractions or getting on a plane again. It's sad really, my kids will be missing out on a lot.

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The mighty oak started out as a nut that held its ground.

This always makes me so nervous. My DH flys out of Atlanta tomorrow, and I always worry that something will happen with him flying in and out of there because it is such a busy airport.

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Moms of little boys work from son up 'til son down!

My parents are in Vegas on vacation right now (mom is meeting a whole bunch of the ladies SHE is on a chat board with!), and this scares me to know they are flying home later this week, and then my dad flies out on Monday for work. I hope they nip this in the bud..and the alert goes down soon.

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Shaking in my boots (well, if I was wearing them in the middle of summer!), but glad to be back!

ok my whole thing is they say no liquids but last fall they started allowing pocket knives and that kind of stuff back on planes and today they are still allowing them hmmm? also most passenger flights contain cargo loads that never are even inspected so why don't they do those as well??? i understand the precautions but i think we stick with one thing and we tend to be very lax in some very dangerous areas...i think we are safer in some aspects but not in others.

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Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money.