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JFK-Phoenix Flight Diverted Because Of... Backgammon-Playing Israelis?
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 13, 2011
Modified Sep 13, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 13, 2011
Modified Sep 13, 2011
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This morning, a flight from JFK Airport, headed to Phoenix, was diverted to St. Louis' Lambert Airport. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the diversion was "for security reasons after three male passengers acted suspiciously, officials say." However, it wasn't a terrorist issue... it possibly has something to do with seat assignments and backgammon.
US Airways Flight 457 landed in St. Louis before 8 a.m. A Lambert spokesman explained that "one of the men was not in his assigned seat prior to takeoff; a second man began walking up the aisle and sat in another seat when he was told to return to his seat," but the police shed more light. Lambert's police chief Paul Mason "said police interviewed the three men and determined that a language-barrier issue may have led to the concern... The three passsengers were Israeli citizens who had a backgammon game in an ornate wooden box. The box may have somehow triggered suspicion."
This is just the latest in plane panic attacks: This past Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a woman was detained on a Detroit-Denver flight for, hmm, being half-Arab and half-Jewish while F-16 fighter jets accompanied a JFK-bound flight which had allegedly drunk passengers who refused to leave the bathroom. And in March of this year and in January 2010, Jews wearing tefillin have caused bomb scares.
Tagged
air travel
flight diversion
israeli
jfk airport
language barrier
panic
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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