Posted on 12/27/2001 6:15:18 AM PST by Elkiejg
ARMED police have boarded a Sydney-bound United Airlines flight in London and forced three passengers off the plane.
United Airlines are refusing to comment on the incident, with a spokesman for the airline in the UK confirming only that the flight from Heathrow to Sydney via San Francisco had been delayed.
But British police have confirmed armed police boarded the plane and removed three passengers.
Flight UA 931, from London to Sydney via San Francisco left Heathrow terminal as scheduled at about 2pm (GMT) on Monday afternoon (0100 AEDT Tuesday).
According to a teenage passenger, Jack Richardson from Manly in Sydney's northern beaches, the plane stopped on the runway and the pilot advised of mechanical problems over the aircraft's public address system.
"The pilot comes on and says he's not at liberty to tell us exactly what happened," he told ABC Radio.
"But the fact is a man from first class, a man from business class and a man from economy class had all been arrested and escorted off the plane."
Mr Richardson said the plane returned to the terminal, where armed police boarded it and escorted the passengers away.
He said about 100 remaining passengers were told to disembark and were subject to an extensive body and luggage search.
The flight eventually took off four hours behind schedule, Mr Richardson said.
A spokeswoman from the Metropolitan Police Service in London said the airline had sought the assistance of police to remove three passengers from the flight.
"At about 3.15pm (GMT) on Monday (0215 AEDT Tuesday), three passengers on a flight from London Heathrow to San Francisco were asked to leave the plane by police at the request of the airline company," she said.
"No offences were discovered, no arrests were made and there was no further action taken."
The basis on which the airline had sought the passengers' removal was a matter for United Airlines to decide whether to reveal, the police spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for United Airlines in the UK, Ruth Hornsby, confirmed the flight had been delayed but declined to provide further details.
"United Airlines' main priority is the safety and security of its passengers and staff," she told AAP from London.
The airline's Australian spokesman, Ian Nicholas, also declined to provide further details of the incident, saying it was a police matter.
This report appears on news.com.au.
LOL! Dietary profiling. I love it!
It was later noted that inspectors found several pair of lost car keys, 2 D batteries, a gerbil, several lengths of habitrail and a GI Joe (with kung fu grip). All personal effects were returned. It was unclear if any celebrities were on board, though several passengers were seen volunteering for the search, and had provided thier own gloves (more sarcasm)
I'm all for it if this is what they did. Remember the adage: we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Nothing says they have to fly anyone they don't want to.
Yeah, it is. It is also TOTALLY annoying. What are you, 14?
British, Australians, New Zealanders to name a few. It's unusual even for them, but I have heard it.
Even if they are Middle-eastern looking, the press will announce that they are aboriginies.
Ok, but how about all this:
"He said the pilot then told more than 100 remaining passengers they would all have to leave the plane and take all baggage with them to be searched….Each passenger was scanned through a metal detector and all hand luggage was thoroughly searched by security personnel…Even if you had to go to the toilet whilst you were off the plane, you had to get escorted," he said. "They checked your shoes and patted everyone down thoroughly and there was a sniffer dog waiting."
100 innocent people were detained, frisked and searched. You are very correct that airlines don't have to fly anyone anywhere if they don't want to. If the airline had just kicked everyone off the plane, that is one thing. But if they are going to prompt authorities to detain, frisk and search over 100 people, they d@mned well had better have a good reason and explain their reasons to the passengers.
Sure, no law will make the airline do so, but then again, no law is going to make irate passengers patronize the airline.
Oh. Ok. Just another isolated incident. Right.
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