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A tale which quickly spread after the hijackings was that actor James Woods had noticed four men "of Middle Eastern appearance"
acting strangely on a flight he made from Boston to Los Angeles a week before the hijackings, but when he reported his suspicions,
they were not taken seriously:

Woods took a flight from Boston to Los Angeles one week before the World Trade Center attacks. The only other people in first
class with him were four men "of Middle Eastern appearance" who acted very strangely. During the entire cross-country flight none
of them had anything to eat or drink, nor did they read or sleep. They only sat upright in their seats, occasionally conversing with
each other in low tones. Woods mentioned what he had noticed to a flight attendant, "who shrugged it off." Arriving in Los Angeles,
Woods told airport authorities, but they "seemed unwilling to become involved."

That Woods noticed unusual behavior and reported it to authorities was true, although some of the details in the initial news
reports were wrong. Woods' Boston-to-Los Angeles flight actually took place the previous month, in August 2001, not "one week
before the World Trade Center attacks":

One of the practice flights may have occurred in August. Actor James Woods was so shaken by a flight he took from Boston to Los
Angeles about a month before the attacks that he told an attendant and authorities of his suspicions when he landed. Woods was in
first-class and the only other passengers in the section were four men who appeared to be Middle Eastern in origin.

During the entire six-hour flight, Woods noticed the men neither ate nor drank. They talked to each other in whispers and did not
read or sleep. On Sept. 12, Woods called the FBI to tell investigators about his experience. He was interviewed by agents on
Sept. 13. Woods's spokesman told Reuters the actor thought it ''prudent not to comment on this and let the FBI continue to do their
job, which they seem to be doing superbly right now.''

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