On 5 December 1988 (16 days prior to the attack), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a security bulletin saying that, on that day, a man with an Arabic accent had telephoned the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, and told them that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States would be blown up within the next two weeks by someone associated with the Abu Nidal Organization; he said a Finnish woman would carry the bomb on board as an unwitting courier.
O 5 de decembro de 1988 (16 días antes do atentado), A Administración Federal de Aviación (FAA) publicou un boletín de seguridade dicindo que, nese mesmo día, un home con acento árabe chamara por teléfono á embaixada estadounidens de Helsinqui, dicindo que un voo de Pan Am dende Frankfurt aos Estados Unidos sería voado nas próximas dúas semanas por alguén asociado á Organización Abu Nidal; dixo que unha muller finesa levaría a bomba a bordo como mensaxeira involuntaria.