An airline ticket agent who checked in two of the 9/11 hijackers has revealed he did not trust his instincts despite noting their suspicious behavior on the morning of September 11, 2001. Michael Tuohey, then working at Portland International Jetport in Maine, assisted Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al Omari, who were en route to Boston for a connecting flight.
Tuohey, 80, told RTE that the men arrived just half an hour before their flight and appeared confused. He helped them with their check-in process, recalling that Atta became frustrated when the process took longer than expected. Atta had reportedly been told it would be a "one-step check-in." Tuohey noted that the two men had purchased first-class seats.
"If anyone looked like a terrorist, he was a terrorist," Tuohey said of Atta, adding that his gut instinct was strong but that he was constrained by laws against profiling. "It's just that it could have changed something. Not that it would have, but it could have. Who knows?… I didn't listen to my gut. And it turned out to be an awful thing."
Following the encounter, Tuohey advised Atta to go to the Admiral Lounge in Boston for a more comfortable experience, given his first-class ticket. Atta responded by repeating his expectation of a "one-step check-in." Tuohey then urged Atta to hurry to make his flight. Atta gave an order to al Omari, and they quickly gathered their belongings and proceeded to their flight.
Tuohey later saw news of the 9/11 attacks unfolding and a colleague mentioned that he had assisted passengers on the flight to Boston. He recalled thinking "Oh my god, the poor guys, they're dead," initially unaware of the hijackers' involvement. It was then that the realization struck him that Atta and al Omari could have been responsible.
He stated that while he had suspicions, he believed he would have been accused of racial profiling if he had acted on them. "I followed all the guidelines, I did my job, and 3,000 people ended up paying with their lives," Tuohey said, expressing regret over his decision not to trust his initial assessment. He acknowledged that while he was following procedures, the outcome was tragic.