Hotel workers: Caller ranted about Calif plane hijacking as voices shouted anti-America curses

Hotel workers: Caller ranted about plane hijacking

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Workers at a California hotel that received an anonymous phone threat to a New York-bound flight said Friday the caller ranted in a thick accent as others were heard shouting anti-America curses in the background.

Justin Martin, a shuttle driver at the Hampton Inn in Alameda, said the clerk who answered the call didn’t take the threat seriously until talking with Martin, who discovered online that the American Airlines 767 jet was about to take off.

Martin spoke to the clerk just after the call came in around 9 a.m. Thursday.

The caller ranted in broken English that American Airlines Flight 24 was going to be hijacked while voices in the background yelled “(expletive) America” and “Allah is God,” Martin said.

The hotel workers called police, leading to the grounding of the flight with 163 passengers and 11 crew members on board.

“That’s when it all sunk in,” said Dhruv Patel, general manager of the hotel.

The FBI later determined the threat was not credible. The incident remained under investigation.

“We’re looking for the person who made the call to the hotel,” said Joe Schadler, an FBI spokesman.

Hotel staff members would not identify the clerk who took the call.

Martin said he did not know why authorities detained a couple on the plane. The young man and woman were later released and said they were told by authorities they had been selected at random.

Passenger Michael Anderson, 20, said he thought the couple might have been targeted because of their appearance. He said he had seen them at the American Airlines ticket counter carrying passports from Pakistan.

At the hotel, Martin said the clerk initially thought the callers were kids playing a prank but took the call more seriously after Martin discovered on the Internet the plane was still on the ground after its original 7:30 a.m. departure was delayed.

Patel said federal agents interviewing the staff members said they had done the right thing.

Martin agreed.

“If something had gone down and we didn’t do anything, that would have been a hell of a lot on our conscience,” Martin said. “Whoever made this call needs to be busted.”

(This version CORRECTS Corrects by attributing last two graphs to Martin)