Terror threat cancels, delays flights: British Airlines calls off three trips in past 24 hours

WASHINGTON - Terror concerns prompted the disruption of more thana half-dozen New Year's holiday flights, as U.S. authoritiescontinued to tighten the air safety net around the country withflight cancellations and airline searches.

British Airways canceled its third flight in 24 hours todaybetween London and Washington's Dulles International Airport after aNew Year's Eve incident in which one of its jetliners was kept on thetarmac in Washington for hours as FBI and Homeland Security officialsquestioned passengers.

U.S. officials said the disruptions were based on possibleintelligence involving terrorist activities.

An international flight between Mexico and Los Angeles wascanceled on Wednesday for similar reasons, and Canadian authoritiessaid an Air France jetliner bound for New York made an unscheduledlanding in the Maritimes on New Year's Day because of securityconcerns.

Officials comparing luggage and passenger lists believed there wasunaccompanied baggage aboard the plane, but a search found nothingsuspicious and the plane resumed its way to New York about four hourslater, officials said.

FBI officials said today some of the intelligence that led toearlier cancellations of Air France flights during Christmas weekinvolved a terror plot involving a Tunisian who is named on the U.S.master terror watch list.

A name similar to the Tunisian's appeared on the manifest of oneof the flights, but turned out to be a youth, FBI officials said.Interrogations of people with other names that concerned the FBIturned up nothing sinister, the officials said.

"We had a name connected with terror plot and it showed up on themanifest and we didn't have a full biographical information, so wetake those precautions until you can assure yourself things are OK,"a senior FBI official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

The flurry of activity over New Year's took place a week and ahalf after the Bush administration raised the national terrorismalert to orange. In the face of extreme security at the nation'sairports, seaports and public gathering places, no terroristincidents took place.

But the heightened security caused some inconvenience forpassengers at Dulles, just outside the nation's capital.

Based on security advice from the British government, BritishAirways on Thursday canceled the same flight from London, and itsreturn flight, that U.S. authorities had boarded on New Year's Eveafter it landed at Dulles. That same flight was canceled again todayfollowing security advice from the British government, a spokesmanfor the airline said.

On Thursday night, U.S. authorities delayed a London-bound BritishAirways flight that had been scheduled to leave at 6:35 p.m., withpassengers "re-screened because of security concerns," said a Dullesairport official who asked not to be identified by name. The planeleft shortly after 10 p.m. The airline confirmed the late departure.

On New Year's Eve, U.S. officials acted on intelligenceinformation and not just suspicious passenger names when they boardedthe British Airways jet at Dulles, a national security official said.

Investigators found no evidence of terrorism as 247 passengersfrom London waited more than 31/2 hours before getting off the planewhile some of them were questioned.

"We had concerns with individuals on the flight, but threatreporting information led us to make the decision to have the flightescorted," a national security official said, speaking only oncondition of anonymity.

The officials said the concerns were "fact-related" and not justconnected to the passenger list the United States now receives fromairlines flying into this country.

Security personnel did weapons screening of passengers, and theplane was kept several hundred feet from the terminal during thequestioning.

FBI agents questioned a woman who appeared to be from the MiddleEast, asking her repeatedly why she was not traveling with herhusband, one passenger said.