Red-faced security officials yesterday scrambled to plug gaping holes in the no-fly regulations that nearly allowed the Times Square terrorist to jet off to the Middle East.
The major rule change requires all airlines to check the list within two hours of notification that a new name has been added.
Faisal Shahzad was placed on the list at about 12:36 p.m. on Monday. Three minutes later, airlines were notified that an important name was added.
But amazingly, at the time, there was no requirement to check updates for 24 hours.
So Shahzad’s Emirates Airlines flight was nearly allowed to leave the gate at its scheduled departure time of 11 p.m.
Officials at the Transportation Security Administration could have called every airline directly to warn them to be on the watch for Shahzad. That would not have been an unprecedented move.
But, at the FBI’s insistence, they called only a few domestic carriers, an administration source told The Post.
Still, even the new two-hour rule could let a fugitive slip through the cracks, a federal security official said.
The official admitted that if a plane is scheduled to depart less than two hours after a warning, it’s not obligated to check updates.
Shahzad was caught because airlines also must submit the names of every passenger aboard at least 30 minutes before takeoff.
Alert customs officials saw Shahzad’s name on that list, boarded the plane and took him off.
The Obama administration said Emirates did not follow procedure. The airline insisted it complied with all regulations.
A source at Emirates said employees in the United Arab Emirates, not at the check-in counter, remotely check the no-fly list.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), meanwhile, said Shahzad paid for his ticket with cash — which should have, but did not raise a red flag. A one-way ticket to Dubai costs about $700
“We caught Shahzad in the nick of time, but the bottom line is he never should have been allowed to purchase a plane ticket in the first place,” Schumer said.
And still more problems with the no-fly list have not been addressed, including last names switched with first names.
“In principle [the change] sounds good, but garbage in, garbage out. If the list sucks in 24 hours, it sucks in two hours,” said Andrew Thomas, editor of the Journal of Transportation Security.