Air France has 25 scheduled daily flights to the United States. A spokesman declined to comment on the airline's security procedures.
The Department of Homeland Security said that it issued the same directions to all international carriers to step up security during the heightened alert and that no specific airline is being targeted.
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Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. officials have expressed frustration that security at some foreign airports is nowhere near as tight as it is at U.S. airports. The U.S. complaints have intensified in recent months, officials and security experts said.
"You can understand the concerns of U.S. intelligence about this, because security at some foreign airports is appallingly low," said Chris Yates, an aviation-security analyst at the Jane's Aviation consulting service.
Yates said that among the airports with spotty security are many regional ones in Russia, whose flights feed into Moscow's airport, and mid-size airports around the Middle East whose flights connect to cities such as Cairo. In many Muslim countries, he said, women who set off alarms going through security are not searched because of cultural sensitivities.
The United States earlier this year revoked the right of two Saudi pilots to fly into the United States, as part of a secretive new program run by the TSA that can bar pilots if the agency decides they "pose a security threat." The TSA said it has not taken similar action since then.
Foreign pilots must undergo a Department of Homeland Security background check, which includes a review of any criminal history. After the terrorist attacks in 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration created a database of foreign flight crews from 17 foreign airlines.
Foreign crews are matched to the database and the FBI watch lists. The Department of Homeland Security said it has flagged foreign pilots for questions relating to the background checks, crew database and watch lists.
"It happens on occasion that those pilots are told they can't fly into the U.S.," an administration official said.
At U.S. airports, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection inspectors have stepped up scrutiny of foreign flight crews after they arrive, according to Frank A. Clark, executive director of LAX Tech Corp., an organization that represents 46 international carriers with service to Los Angeles International, one of the largest international airports in the world.
It is not uncommon, Clark said, for some members of foreign flight crews to be questioned and held for 45 minutes to an hour, as U.S. officials verify their identities. Often crew members have the same or similar last names as people on the watch lists, Clark said.
"We see, on occasions, a crew member . . . held and questioned extensively," Clark said. Usually it's because the crew member has the "Asian version of Smith or the Arabic version of Smith" as a last name, he said.
Clark said the tightening of security started in September, after the Department of Homeland Security canceled a program that allowed some passengers to move through U.S. airports without visas. That action, which was taken out of concern that terrorists could exploit the program and slip into the country, prompted changes for foreign carriers, he said.
Staff writer John Mintz and researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.
