A former airline ticket agent has revealed he suspected two men he checked in for a flight on September 11, 2001, were terrorists but did not act on his intuition, a decision he now regrets. Michael Tuohey, then working at Portland International Jetport in Maine, facilitated the check-in for Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al-Omari, who were en route to Boston.
Tuohey described the men as appearing confused and struggling to navigate the airport, arriving only half an hour before their connecting flight. He recalled Atta, whom he described as potentially looking like a terrorist, becoming frustrated with the check-in process. Atta insisted it would be a one-step check-in, and his demeanor, including barking an order to al-Omari, led Tuohey to hurry them along to avoid missing their flight.
He noted that the men purchased first-class tickets, and Atta’s impatience and rude remarks surprised him. Tuohey recalled telling Atta that he would miss his flight if he did not hurry. After the encounter, Tuohey said he was relieved to be done with the interaction.
Later that day, after witnessing the 9/11 attacks unfold on news reports, Tuohey realized he might have encountered the hijackers. A colleague reminded him that he had assisted passengers boarding the flight to Boston. He then connected his earlier suspicions with the day's tragic events.
Tuohey, now 80, stated that while he believed there were laws against racial profiling at the time, his gut instinct told him the men were suspicious. He expressed that he did not listen to his gut and that it resulted in an "awful thing." He acknowledged that he followed his job guidelines but that ultimately, approximately 3,000 people lost their lives.