Ex-ticket agent recalls encounter with (9/11) hijacker (Atta)

[jpak]

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3114385.shtml

PORTLAND -- It's been five years since Michael Tuohey was on the receiving end of an icy stare from the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks, but the former US Airways ticket agent will be forever haunted by that brief but chilling encounter at Portland International Jetport.

Tuohey said he will never forget the anger in the eyes of Mohamed Atta after he refused to give boarding passes to him and accomplice Abdulaziz Alomari for their connecting flight in Boston, which they crashed into the World Trade Center hours later on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

As Monday's anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon approached, the reason Atta and Alomari drove to Portland rather than begin their deadly journey at Logan International Airport remains a mystery.

Michael Chitwood, who was Portland police chief at the time, said nothing has emerged to supplant the initial perception that the hijackers may have chosen to arrive separately from various locations to minimize the chance of drawing attention to themselves.

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[rzemanfl]

1. They have this wrong! It was American Airlines and it was in

Boston, it is in the movie!!!1 I'm series...

[Dem2theMax]

2. LMAO! This is HUGH! nt.

[Bluebear]

7. TRUTH BE DEMAND!!!!!1111

[mnhtnbb]

3. Wow.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. I would not want to have that burden on my shoulders.

Ever.

[jpak]

5. Every time I go through security at the Portland Jetport I get the heebies

Those ghosts still haunt...

[Warpy]

6. Moral: go with your gut

It's better to inconvenience an irate passenger with a lot of money than it is to knuckle under and watch people die later.

I feel sorry for the poor guy. Pre 9/11 he had no real authority to stop these guys, only to have their bags and carryons searched, and the box cutters were still legal.

[leesa]

8. Atta...as though he even knew what was going to happen that morning. He

was probably pissed he wouldn't give him a boarding pass. Just a patsy most likely.