REPORT OF THE - Archives - Syracuse University

to the United States during December 1988 parallel those for TWA flights departing from
Frankfurt at approximately the same times during the same period.
Review of Pan Am data also shows that Flight 103 had never been fully booked and that
there was no unusual pattern of bookings or cancellations for it during the pre-Christmas
period. Allegations that Pan Am offered a special one-half fare discount for Flight 103
were "absolutely false," according to Pan Am testimony before the Commission. Pan Am
told the Commission, and the Commission confirmed, that London to New York fares for
December 21, 1988, were in effect for a least the previous 30 days.
Pan Am records show that only two of the many fare classes available for Flight 103 had
been fully booked at one time or another. Pan Am sold those two classes, H and L, solely
to wholesalers and consolidators, who resold them to the public.
The Commission was told of several instances in which one particular travel agency was
unable to obtain tickets on Flight 103 for student passengers. Personnel at that agency
explained to Commission staff that the agency is permitted to sell only H category
(student fare) tickets. When that class is fully booked for a flight, as it was from time to
time for Flight 103, the agency tells students who call for reservations that the flight is
fully booked.
Commission staff confirmed that it is common in the airline travel business for a
particular fare class on a given flight to be sold out one day and open the next or even
opened and closed on the same day. The result is that on the same day some people may
be able to obtain reservations in a given fare class while others cannot.
Commission staff also conducted extensive interviews and reviewed all relevant travel
records of personnel in the Moscow Embassy. Staff followed all rumors brought to the
Commission's attention concerning alleged changes in travel plans by military and
civilian personnel, whether the personnel were in Moscow or elsewhere. The
Commission found only one passenger who changed travel plans because of the Helsinki
threat. A civilian under contract with the U.S. Government in Moscow was scheduled to
fly Pan Am, via Frankfurt to the United States on December 16, 1988, but switched to a
direct Pan Am flight to the United States which departed Moscow on December 18.
The part-time employee who operated Pan Am's office at the Moscow Embassy told
Commission staff that she had booked a U.S. journalist, without telling him, on a carrier
other than Pan Am on December 21 because of the Helsinki threat. The Commission was
unable to substantiate this assertion.
No passenger from Moscow was aboard Flight 103 on December 21, 1988, but there was
no connecting Moscow flight scheduled to fly on that day of the week. Even on days
when Pan Am flights left Moscow, because of the "Fly America" Act it was difficult for
U.S. Government travelers to shift travel plans from Pan Am, the only U.S. carrier
serving Moscow.
The Commission's investigation also determined that two U.S. civilians, other than those
in Moscow, heard at least generally about the Helsinki threat information. Yet, both of
them boarded Flight 103 on December 21.
December 21, 1988
Frankfurt
As passengers for Flight 103 checked into Frankfurt the afternoon on December 21,
1988, they were met by employees of Alert Management Systems, Inc., who were to