> The next bomber would probably have been better served by trying to set off a bomb in the bathroom.
That would have been the logical from the start, with the shoe bomber. However, intelligence and committing a suicide bombing appear to be mutually exclusive, in that there doesn't appear to have been a single intelligent suicide bomber to date.
If any of these terrorists were intelligent, they could have rigged a time bomb from a damn cellphone, laptop or any carry on electronic device that allows timed outputs. Yet the suicide bombers climbing onto planes appear to have forgotten a few steps in their devices, like blasting caps or remote detonation. Being next to the bomb and surrounded by people kind of make it difficult to perform a detonation, especially when you're trying to light your heels on fire. Consider this, the TAPT placed in the shoes would have detonated just as readily if he'd banged the heels of his shoes together like he was trying to clean them, and no one would have suspected a thing, but common sense doesn't exist when you're trying to blow yourself up for illogical reasons. [Edit: IIRC knocking was the primary cause of premature detonation in improvised explosives, so why this wouldn't be your plan for detonation if it works too well already is beyond me]