Unruly passenger forces plane to land in St. John'sSt. John's — Published on Friday, Jan. 08, 2010 7:07AM EST
A Delta Air Lines flight bound for Paris made an unscheduled landing in Newfoundland today after an incident involving an unruly passenger. Police in St. John's say a passenger was intoxicated and began causing a disturbance on Flight 188. The flight, which originated in Pittsburgh, landed at the St. John's International Airport shortly before 1 a.m. Police say a 59-year-old American man was detained in connection with the incident.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/unruly-passenger-forces-plane-to-land-in-st-johns/article1423507/Pittsburgh-to-Paris flight rerouted for belligerent passenger"He became belligerent during the flight, both to and about flight attendants," Galbraith said.
The man repeatedly asked passengers around him whether they were American, said if he didn't get a drink he would go on Fox News and complain that Delta served Muslims alcohol but not him, and said he was going to "go 9-11," said Marcus Miller, 30, who was sitting beside him.
Miller, a Sugar Creek, Ohio, native who works in The Netherlands, said he told the man several times that if he didn't quiet down the crew would land the plane and he would be arrested. That seemed to work for a few minutes each time, but the man would eventually start ranting again.
The flight turned around about 10:45 p.m., and flew about 130 miles to the island airport.
"There's just no reason to take someone like that out over the open ocean," Galbraith said.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_661266.htmlFlightwise:
http://flightwise.com/track/DAL188audio from: CYYT 0400-0430 Jan 8, 2009