Two passengers aboard an Emirates Air flight taxiing to a JFK Airport runway were briefly detained Thursday while security officials checked their names against the no-fly list. The passengers returned to the plane after they were cleared, and the incident was deemed a false alarm.

But the no-fly alarm comes just days after security officials arrested Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad on the same Dubai-bound Emriates Air route and points to the heightened precautions at the airport.

The fact that Shahzad managed to board an Emirates flight on Saturday night hours after his name was added to the U.S. government's no-fly list -- and was just moments away from takeoff -- has prompted high-level criticism of the airline. Mayor Bloomberg and Obama administration officials charged Emirates with failing to do comprehensive screening before allowing Shahzad on board. Sen. Charles Schumer called for legislation to close a loophole that allows passengers who, like Shahzad, pay for an airline ticket in cash without triggering extra scrutiny.

But Emirates Air has bristled at charges that it somehow mishandled the Shahzad situation. On Thursday, Emirates Air President Tim Clark lashed out at the Obama administration for faulting the airline over Shahzad's flight. He said Emirates complied with all security procedures in the incident.

"We're not a security agency," he told our colleagues from Zawya Dow Jones in a telephone interview. "For the Obama administration to say that we dropped the ball on this, it's a bit much." Clark also said the updated no-fly list "wasn't circulated the way it should have been."