Posted on 12/20/2005 4:08:06 PM PST by truthandlife
A dispute that involved the wife of Houston's most famous pastor, Joel Osteen, and a Continental Airlines flight attendant ended up delaying a flight for hours Monday. And now, Victoria Osteen's actions on that flight are in the spotlight. Also on ABC13.com: Send us a news tip | RSS feeds | ABC13 E-lert | Info mentioned on air Statements from Lakewood and Continental Following the incident on Continental flight 1602 Monday, both Lakewood Church and Continental Airlines released these statements. The Osteens run the largest church in the nation, so passengers on a Continental flight were shocked Monday when Mrs. Osteen was removed from that flight after a disturbance.
Taking time off from the high profile hustle and bustle of running a mega-church, Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen and his family boarded Continental flight 1602 Monday morning at Houston's big airport. They were bound for the slopes in Colorado.
Their trip was delayed and so was the entire flight by almost two hours. Fellow passengers blame the popular Osteens, specifically Joel's wife, Victoria.
According to passenger accounts, the Osteens were sitting in first class. Soon after the plane's door was closed, the FBI says Victoria Osteen was removed following what Continental would call only a disturbance. The Osteens' spokesman confirms it involved a flight attendant, but that's all. However, one passenger tells Eyewitness News she was alerted to the front of the plane when she heard a commotion.
"She violently ran towards the cockpit, scaring everyone around her," said passenger Knicky Van Slyke. "Everyone was terrified about what was going on. And a bunch of flight attendants ran up and had to restrain her. She was banging on the door."
"Of the cockpit?" we asked.
"Yes."
Passengers say Victoria was removed first. Joel and the children followed. Meantime, everyone waited.
"They unloaded all the luggage to get their luggage and deplaned her, Joel, and the kids," said passenger Dawn Dixon.
Passenger Chad Clay said, "They kept telling us they were waiting on some passengers to find their luggage underneath in the plane, and it was going to be delayed for looking for that luggage."
According to the Transportation Security Administration, federal air marshals were never involved. Local authorities also know nothing of this event. Continental would not discuss details.
The Osteens' spokesman denies a physical altercation, denies Victoria ever banged on the cockpit door, and says she left on her own.
"The account of the event which has come to our attention is inaccurate and overblown. The misunderstanding was minor and was resolved when Victoria voluntarily removed herself from the situation," read the statement.
The FBI says it was not voluntary. Though agents are not investigating, they will review the incident as the Osteens enjoy their Colorado vacation.
The Osteens' spokesman says they took another flight to Colorado Monday.
Nobody has been charged. As for the FBI's involvement, we're told it's standard procedure for them to review all passenger removal incidents. According to Continental, this one is a closed case.
Pastor Joel Osteen preaches to an average of 40,000 people a week at Lakewood Church services. Lakewood opened in the former home of the Rockets, Compaq Center, back in July. It took $90 million and a year and a half of renovations. Osteen's ministry is taped and aired around the world.
Health and Wealth False Gospel Bump!!!
Nobody rushes the cockpit of a plane I'm on and not get cold-cocked.
Delayed the flight by almost 2 hours!
I would have been LIVID.
Victoria, think postively.
If she had been Hispanic they could've shot her.
By their fruits you will know them....
were the osteen's boasting our fine minority leader, nancy pelosi?
Hmmmm.........
Doing God's work...for cash.
I suppose some people just aren't what they appear to be.
Probably part of the pressure of celebrity life. . .
"If she had been Hispanic they could've shot her."
No comprendo.
Maybe she thought the pilots were going to be raptured and the plane was gonna crash.
Wife of Houston minister delays flight to Vail
Accounts differ why Joel and Victoria Osteen got off the plane
Scott N. Miller
December 20, 2005
http://www.vaildaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20051220&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=112200023&Ref=AR&Show=0&template=printart
GYPSUM - Elizabeth Vail, her husband and two children sat on the tarmac at Houston's airport Monday and waited. Then they waited some more.
After nearly two hours, the Continental Airlines plane took off for Eagle County, minus four passengers: Victoria Osteen, her husband, Joel, and the couple's two children. The Osteens lead Lakewood Church in Houston, which the Web site belief.net.com calls America's largest.
According to passengers, Victoria Osteen was asked to leave the plane after an altercation with the plane's flight crew. Luz Garcia, an agent at the FBI's office in Houston said no charges will be filed. But, she added, "She failed to comply with the flight attendant's instructions and they were asked to leave the flight."
Church spokesman Don Illof said the family was skiing in Vail on Tuesday.
But the delay in Monday's flight left other passengers annoyed.
"We sat on the ground for two hours," said Vail, who was headed to the family condo in Snowmass. "They kept telling us to stay seated with our seatbelts on, that the flight would be leaving in a few minutes. They wouldn't tell us what happened. They didn't tell us until almost the end of the flight."
A couple of first-class passengers saw at least part of what happened.
"As I understand it, she had some drink spill. That started a series of issues with the crew," passenger Herbert Towning said.
"Mr. Osteen was very calm, very professional," passenger Barbara Griffith said. "It's sad."
Another passenger, who didn't want to give her name, agreed with Griffith's account.
"She just had attitude," the unnamed passenger said of Victoria Osteen. "They took her off, and she never came back. Her husband went out, then he came back and got their stuff. An hour-and-a-half later, we were leaving."
It was a long wait on an airplane full of families heading for Christmas vacations.
"It was a lot of families on the flight," Vail said, while riding herd on her own two small children while her husband got their bags. "It was very frustrating."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Without pre-judging this particular incident - the article gives no clue what it was all about - I've always been a bit suspicious of Osteen's act. A bit too slick and wet-behind-the-ears, and it looks like he's yet another TV preacher living the high life. I saw Joyce Meyer on TV a couple of weeks ago, dressed to the hilt (albeit in somewhat bad taste), and preaching about money.
Me thinks thing with the Osteen's don't appear how they really are. Could there be trouble in paradise with the Olsteens? I'm thinking so!
One of those "Do you know who I am?" moments...?
Are you implying that the shooting of the mentally unstable man who yelled "bomb" was racially motivated? That sure sounds like what your saying.
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