Fighter Jets Scrambled Over Bathroom Breaks

Suspicious couple was just making out
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 12, 2011 12:38 AM CDT
Updated Sep 12, 2011 4:30 AM CDT
Fighter Jets Scrambled Over Bathroom Breaks
9/11   (Aviationlover98)

Fighter jets were scrambled yesterday to escort an American Airlines plane after a pilot radioed concern about repeated and overly long bathroom breaks by three male passengers on a flight from LA to New York. It was one of a pair of security scares on US planes on a day fraught with worries about possible terrorism attacks. Neither incident appeared to be related to terrorism, but both planes were boarded by security teams upon landing, and the suspicious passengers detained, questioned—and eventually released, reports AP. Concern about the trio of men on the American flight was raised by a passenger.

Air marshals were on board, but the men were not confronted until the plane landed safely, reports the New York Post. No further details were released about what they were up to. A similar scare triggered an escort by fighter jets of a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Detroit. A couple on that flight believed to be "behaving suspiciously" in a bathroom were "making out," a law enforcement source told ABC News, although three passengers on the flight were detained briefly. One Detroit airport official branded the reaction to the Frontier flight an "abundance of caution. We always react as if it's the end of the world," he added. "If it isn't, so be it." (More American Airlines stories.)

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