On 22 December 2001, Reid boarded American Airlines Flight 63 between Paris and Miami, wearing shoes packed with explosives, which he unsuccessfully tried to detonate.

[3] He began writing graffiti under the name "Enrol" as part of a gang,[5][6] and ultimately accumulated more than 10 convictions for crimes against persons and property.

[10][12] He later began attending the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, headed at that time by the anti-American cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was described as "the heart of the extremist Islamic culture" in Britain.

[3] At the Finsbury Park Mosque he fell under the sway of "terrorist talent spotters and handlers" including Djamal Beghal, one of the leaders of the foiled plan for a 2001 suicide bombing of the American Embassy in Paris.

He lived and travelled in several places in Europe, communicating using an address in Peshawar, Pakistan, coincidentally where al Qaeda was formed in the late 1980s.

[3] Reid and Saajid Badat, another British man preparing as a terrorist, returned to Pakistan in November 2001, and reportedly travelled overland to Afghanistan.

Once questioned by an ICTS agent, he was referred to the French National Police due to his seemingly evasive behavior and lack of baggage.

The extended questioning resulted in Reid missing his flight, so he stayed overnight at a hotel near the airport while American Airlines was allowed to re-issue a ticket.

[15][16] He returned to the airport the following day and boarded American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami, wearing his special shoes packed with plastic explosives in their hollowed-out bottoms.

On 22 December 2001, a passenger on Flight 63 from Paris to Miami complained of the smell of smoke in the cabin shortly after a meal service.

One flight attendant, Hermis Moutardier, thinking she smelled a burnt match, walked along the aisles of the plane, trying to find the source.

Two days later, he was charged before a federal court in Boston with "interfering with the performance of duties of flight crew members by assault or intimidation", a crime which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The judge ordered Reid held in jail without bail, pending trial due to the gravity of the crimes and the perceived high risk that he would try to flee.

[16] Officials at the time indicated that Reid's shoes contained 10 ounces (283 g) of explosive material characteristic of C-4, enough to blow a hole in the fuselage and cause the plane to crash.

[25][26] He is serving his sentence at United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, in Colorado, a supermax facility that holds the most dangerous prisoners in the federal system.

[36] Captured al-Qaeda terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui stated at his sentencing hearing in 2006 that Reid was a co-conspirator in the September 11 attacks on the United States, and that Moussaoui and Reid had intended to hijack a fifth aircraft and crash it into the White House in Washington, D.C. as part of the attacks that took place that day.

[38] The Department of Justice, after consulting with its counter-terrorism section, the prosecuting US attorney's office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, allowed Reid's prison restrictions to expire in 2009, rather than renewing them, making his lawsuit moot.