SOURCE: Guardian Unlimited http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4028214,00.html L.A. Flight to New York Diverted to Utah Wednesday April 28, 2004 12:16 AM SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York was diverted to Salt Lake City on Tuesday after a man with a butane lighter alarmed the flight crew, officials said. The man, an Egyptian national heading to Cairo, was carrying a lighter that resembled a cell phone and allegedly refused to move a bag stowed beneath his seat. Flight 1986 landed at Salt Lake City International Airport about 11 a.m., two hours after leaving Los Angeles International Airport. The man, who was not identified, became ``quite agitated'' when told he could not use the phone,'' said Michael Fierberg, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. Because the lighter appeared to be disguised and the man resisted putting it away, a flight attendant notified the pilot, Fierberg said. The plane's 139 passengers were taken off the craft to be re-screened while the man was questioned by FBI agents. He was later released, but Delta Air Lines refused to transport him to New York, Fierberg said. Dogs sniffed passenger bags and agents combed through the plane, which departed again for New York's Kennedy Airport early in the afternoon. -- David Mueller / MRY dmueller7@xxxxxxxxx http://www.quanterium.com