New York, NY – Faisal Shahzad was permitted to board a plane more than 10 hours after the feds put him on a no-fly list because the airline hadn’t updated its files, officials said.
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The events Monday night exposed a gap in the nation’s aviation security system that nearly allowed Shahzad to flee Kennedy Airport on a flight to Dubai.
White House officials confirmed the only thing that foiled Shahzad’s getaway was a final check of the flight manifest by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, who caught the suspect’s name.
“I think it’s important to understand that the system is built with necessary and built-in redundancy,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
Shahzad was yanked from the plane after its doors had been closed and it was preparing to leave the gate.
“The airline [Emirates] did not update their system in time” to deny Shahzad a boarding pass, a U.S. official said.
An Emirates spokesman declined to discuss the procedures for updating its no-fly watch list, only saying that “full security procedures were activated” once it became known that Shahzad was on the plane.
Federal sources said Shahzad was placed on the no-fly list at noon Monday, many hours before he purchased his one-way ticket in cash at the airport for the 11 p.m. flight.
“Shahzad was added to the no-fly list as a result of late-breaking developments in the investigation, and electronic notifications were sent to airlines,” said a federal source.
“However, his information had not yet been populated [or uploaded] in the airline’s system to the point of triggering an automated alert,” the source added.
Normally, people on the no-fly list are denied a boarding pass. “But the technology can cause an info lag in notifying airlines,” the source said.
The federal Transportation Security Administration plans to implement a new program dubbed Sure Flight by year’s end, making the Department of Homeland Security responsible for vetting the no-fly list.
That`s because UAE is for terrorists what the Swiss are for tax frauds. They are duplicite in these crimes until Israel decides to do something. Then they are “pursuing justice”.
Terrorists fly Emirates!
Its not the no fly list, its the IDIOTS working the ticket counter. A guy walks in buys a ONE WAY ticket, pays with $700, CASH, checks NO LUGGAGE, and doesn’t set off a few red flags that bum at the counter should be charged as an acomplice!!!
” We got him righ At the door”. What a lie! The plane was ready for take off and was 30 seconds from take off.
No coincidence here. As I am sure most of you know, the legacy name of the airline is not “Emirates” but rater “United Arab Emirates”, or “UAE” for short. The recenlty shortened it to “Emirates” for obvious reasons. It must have been a total “unintentional error” on the part of the airline that they let this terrorist board the plane. That’s what our illustrious secretary of homeland security get for relyin on airlies to enforce the no fly list. Great job Janet.
It seems as though Emirates, either through complicity or laziness, messed up. They chose to use an outdated list and totally ignored the red flag behavior of someone buying a long distance ticket one hour before flight time for cash.
The authorities should ban Emirates from operating in the USa. This would also put other airlines on notice.
This system is so flawed that I bet even if his name was on the list, the airline attendant would tell him “You are on the terror-watch no fly list”, tipping him off to flee.
Or is there a “silent alarm” of some sort that airline attendants are trained trigger…? i wonder
Do you really expect better from this administration? Terrorist, Jihadist are no no names. Policy is set from the top down, not the bottom up! We were very, very lucky this time, but some day the luck will run out.
THEN WHAT?
For all you yellers, obviously you never worked with computer databases! What do you expect, that the airlines should have to update the data every hour? Can you imagine how many errors, and down time there will be! For all purposes, a once a day update (probably done after midnight when there are no open counters) is more than enough, and I wouldn’t be suprised if the Feds require even less than that.
they are too busy to look at the new no fly lists. they are busy thinking of ways to charge passengers for everything.
soon it will be for using the bathroom and for sitting in a seat.
The airlines computer system should have an automatic way to update their lists, they should not even know the names on the list, just that anybody that wants to fly when the enter boton is pushed by the attendant issuing the tickets or the computer, after putting in all the info automaticly it should be scanned by the government before giving the OK. if there is a problem the ticket should be issued anyhow, just that the plane should be grounded and federal agents should be sent to the gate so the guy doesn’t want to run away.
if even the airline doesn’t know what is happenning, they won’t tip the terrorist.
It’s so ironic that the beaming and glowing self-congratulating commissioners at yesterday’s news conference, left out this major, major detail of how the terrorist escaped their surveillance and but for the sharp eye of a customs official would never have been caught.
So please SPARE US all your self-serving compliments, it was a street vendor and a customs officer that really saved the day.
How interesting that Emirates now advertises heavily on NYC TV, I wonder why?
Kudos to the customs agent for catching his name on the passenger list. Could you imagine what that list looks like, its one mohamed after another. Yimach shmom.
After 9/11 all planes were locked down. Just because a terrorist attempt fails doesn’t mean we can’t lock down planes, at least long enough for all airlines to get a HIGH ALERT of the guys we are looking for, put some fear into airline employees that this is no joke, and give them time to update their NO FLY LIST.
Most countries have passport controll when leaving the country. The US dousn’t. No wonder its possible to get on a plane out of the country.
BTW When going into Mexico by car, again no passport checks!
The US had better gets its act together like every other country!
#13 is correct. If the gate agent says “I’m sorry i can’t issue a boarding pass because the TSA locks you out”, the guy will make a run for it. Even in the terminal he can run and hide. Once on the plane, there’s no place to go. I say let him board then freeze the plane at the gate. He also lets down his guard once he’s seated on the plane, making apprehension easier and safer.