The man behind the foiled 2009 Christmas airline bombing reportedly targeted Detroit because it was the cheapest flight.

Counterterrorism officials told the Associated Press that underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab considered blowing up planes above Houston or Chicago, but airline tickets to those cities were too expensive.

The new information suggests that al-Qaeda's Yemen branch does not share Osama bin Laden's desire to attack symbolic targets, but targets of opportunity.
     
Abdulmutallab, 24, has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiring to kill 281 passengers and 11 crew members aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253.