Unruly passengers were to blame for the diversion of a Portland-bound flight early Wednesday morning, United Airlines officials said.
The plane was headed to Portland from Washington, D.C., but diverted to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport where passengers suffered a lengthy delay.
“Basically we had three customers who were being disruptive and not following crew members’ instructions,” said Rahsaan Johnson, a United Airlines spokesman. “When the plane landed, the customers, crew members and law enforcement, including Chicago Police and the FBI, had a conversation.”
Johnson said they all agreed it would be best if the three customers did not continue on to Portland.
All passengers on board the flight had to deplane. TSA agents then re-screened them before they re-boarded the plane and continued on to Portland. The flight landed at 12:44 a.m., which was nearly four hours late.
Passengers didn’t really know the reason for the delay.
“They just told us there was strange goings-on in the back of the plane and for security reasons we sat on the ground a lot longer,” said passenger Cliff Robinette. “Because they had us deplane we had to go through security again with TSA and then we had to re-board again.”
Johnson said United Airlines reached out to affected passengers and offered them compensation for the delay and inconvenience. That compensation could include extra frequent flier miles, certificates for travel, or discounts for travel, he said.
No crew members were hurt during the disruption and the plane is back on schedule for the rest of the day.
--Autumn Foster
