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Home » Musings » "Terrorists" Force Diversion of a United Flight
MusingsNewsUnited Airlines

"Terrorists" Force Diversion of a United Flight

Matthew Klint Posted onApril 1, 2011 4 Comments

Readers of my blog know that I have very little tolerance for irrationality. Such irrationality is often manifested in the actions of the TSA, but sometimes passengers or flight crews are to blame, like when a flight attendant overreacts to a passenger who "appears" suspicious.

Other times, however, I cannot blame FAs and passengers for "freaking out."

Take Tuesday for instance, when a United flight from Portland to Washington Dulles diverted to Chicago after three passengers continued to act very strangely. According to passengers onboard the flight, one man went to the back of the plane and sat down on the floor–not before having a verbal altercation with one of the FAs in the rear galley. Another man from the same group was pacing up and down the aisle of the plane with a backpack on. All three men were passing paper notes back and forth to each other.

I cannot blame UA for diverting the flight. Politically correct UA says the diversion occurred because the passengers failed to follow crew member instructions, which without doubt is partially true, but pacing up and down the aisle with a backpack on midflight would certainly raise my suspicion. And it didn’t help that the three men appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent in a country that tends to link terrorism exclusively to the Arab world.

Recently, there were two other flight diversions after Orthodox Jewish passengers strapped on tefillin, the prayer garment made from a pair of small leather boxes containing scripture and connected by leather straps, after takeoff. I have traveled to Israel and have Jewish friends so I know what a tefillin is, but I cannot blame the flight crews and passengers for their worry after observing passengers strap black boxes around their heads 30,000 feet in the air.

The two situations described above are quite different–a religious ritual cannot be compared to disobeying crewmember instructions–yet are similar in the following way: I think the reaction that occurred was reasonable. I could launch into a extended discussion about religious liberty and tolerance, but I only offer this advice to all airline passengers: if you’re doing something that is going to raise the attention of passengers around you in a negative way, do your best to hold off until landing.

Is that too much to request?

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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4 Comments

  1. Marcus Reply
    April 1, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    It seems like with the case of the Orthodox Jewish praying scenario this could have all been mitigated with simple training. I’m sure it is cheaper to include a short discussion of modern religious praying ceremonies than it is to divert a plane or two. That’s the only reason I fault the airline with respect to the tefillin incident.

    Also I’m not sure the wait until landing advice, while good generally, could apply to various religious rituals that need to be performed at set intervals throughout the day.

  2. Matthew Reply
    April 1, 2011 at 10:17 pm

    I agree–religious training should be included and as I tried to make clear, the two situations I described above are only analogous to an extent.

    But to the untrained, strapping a black box to your head would cause concern–great concern I would think.

  3. Steve Reply
    April 1, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    Religious tolerance is one thing, but if the flights are in the USA, people who do strange rituals need to mold their ways to US, not the other way around (while in the air at least).

    Anyone doing anything strange is going to set off warning alarms (and rightly so). There is a proper etiquette for flying and if you do things that seem strange, regardless of your reasons, it could cause major issues.

  4. Dan Reply
    April 2, 2011 at 2:32 am

    “It’s not illegal. It’s frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane.”

    “I’m pretty sure that’s illegal too.”

    “Yeah, maybe after 9/11, where everybody got so sensitive. Thanks a lot, bin Laden.”

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