Passenger escorted off plane

Escorted off: A female passenger caused yesterday's JetBlue flight to New York to turn around in mid air after she caused a kerfuffle. She was escorted off the plane by police officers.

A female passenger caused yesterday’s JetBlue flight from Bermuda to New York to turn around in mid-air after she caused a disturbance.

The jet, which had been in the air for around an hour, returned to Bermuda where the woman was led away in handcuffs by police.

According to eyewitness Amy Fass, a New York-based finance worker who was on the plane: “They told us out of nowhere that the plane was turning back to Bermuda. I assumed something was wrong with the plane. I'd seen the lady just after take-off acting strangely, banging the bathroom door and playing with the trolley. We didn’t realise the extent of it until we saw the police on the ground.”

Clare O’Connor, a Bermudian journalist who lives in New York, said she understood that the woman even tried to open the plane doors in mid-air.

“Obviously I panicked; they said on the intercom that the Air Traffic Controllers had ordered the plane to turn around. Luckily JetBlue handled it all professionally,” she said.

“It was bizarre to see the woman frogmarched off the plane in handcuffs, but we took off straight away and my nerve-calming Bloody Mary was on the house.”

JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said: “JetBlue flight 1732 from Bermuda to New York City, with 89 customers on board, returned to the field in Bermuda after reports of a customer disturbance. The flight was met by local authorities and a customer was taken into police custody. The flight continued to New York with everyone else after about an hour on the ground.”

Mr White was unable to provide further details about the passenger who caused the disturbance and a Bermuda Police Service spokesman did not respond to a request for information.

http://www.royalgazette.com