The best headline for the attempted hijack story comes from Gawker, which runs, Would be terrorist only succeeds in burning balls making air travel exponentially worse. This explains the whole story and what happened to air passengers in America afterwards.

What happened:

Read this account in The Guardian of accounts from lucky and brave passengers on the transatlantic flight.

Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit was carrying 290 passengers and crew who heard what was described as a "balloon being popped". "What we heard in the beginning was a bang... then a minute later there was a lady shouting things like, 'What are you doing? What are you doing?' " said passenger Elias Fawaz. "We looked back and there was a struggle – and we saw fumes and fire coming out."

Witnesses said Mutallab emerged from a toilet with a pillow over his stomach and a syringe in his hand. He injected the syringe into something held on his stomach, triggering smoke and flames.

Parallels

"Shoe Bomber" Richard Reid, born in Britain was another loner-turned-radical who attemted to blow up a transatlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes. That time also, the would-be bomber was restrained by other passengers and is now serving a life sentence in the US.

Al-Qaida has shifted its main offices
The Guardian reports how Somalia and Yemen have become the hot spots for jihadist activities and recruitment.

Effects: More restrictions for Air Passengers

It doesn't help that the attempted hijack took place right in the middle of the annual holiday season. Under the new restrictions, The New York Times reports that

Overseas passengers will be restricted to only one carry-on item, and domestic passengers will probably face longer security lines.

Then, Gizmodo tells us that no electronics are allowed on planes.