Houston-LA flight diverted due to unruly passenger

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Houston-LA flight diverted due to unruly passenger
Tuesday December 25, 6:26 PM EST

(adds more FAA quotes, paragraphs 6-7)

HOUSTON, Dec 25 (Reuters) - A Continental Airlines (CAL) flight from Houston
to Los Angeles was diverted to El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday after a passenger
became unruly, a Continental spokesman said.

Spokesman David Messing said Flight 627 landed at the airport in El Paso at
12:45 p.m. (2:45 p.m. EST(1945 GMT) and police took the passenger into
custody.

The passenger was not immediately identified and there were no details
concerning his or her behavior on the plane -- a Boeing 757 with 183
passengers and seven crew members aboard.

No injuries were immediately reported. "Expectations are the flight will
continue," Messing said.

Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in
Washington, said diversions for unruly passengers were "fairly common."


Later she said she understood the incident had no relation to any terrorist
threat but added the FAA would seek prosecution of the individual or
individuals involved.

"We take that very seriously," she said, referring to unruly passengers,
"and that's why we'll be pursuing an enforcement action."

The FAA recorded 266 "enforcement actions" involving unruly passengers last
year, according to the agency's Web site.

But since 19 men hijacked four planes on Sept. 11, airlines and travelers
have become more security conscious and suspicious of unusual behavior by
passengers.

More than 3,000 people were killed when two of the planes were crashed into
the World Trade Center, one was flown into the Pentagon and the fourth
crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

On Saturday, a Paris-Miami American Airlines flight was diverted to Boston
when a man apparently tried to ignite explosives in his shoes.


©2001 Reuters Limited.

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