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Yes the primary plan was to cause as much damage as possible.

However, they were on a suicide mission. They were not going to come back alive. Before 9-11, nobody knew if you could commandeer multiple planes using only small knives. I think it is very plausible that they had a backup plan to blow up the planes if things went awry.

These were clever and determined people. Strap-on bombs were well within their capability. They told the passengers they had a bomb. The passengers saw the bomb.

Why does it rock your world so much for me to suggest the obvious?

They may have had a bomb.

It does not seem to be the way they took over the planes. They did use small knives. That was their plan. They planned well and their plan worked. They probably said they had a bomb and they probably had something that might have looked like a bomb. That would have helped their plan. They did not need a bomb and trying to bring a bomb on board would have added to their chances of getting caught getting on the airplane, but it is certainly possible that they had a bomb on the plane of planes. It is doubtful that any bombs went off any of the planes prior to the planes crashing into buildings or the earth as the case may be.

Why add extraneous, unnecessary elements?