Claustrophobia blamed for air alert

Aug 17 2006 By The Journal

An air passenger suffering from claustrophobia triggered a major security alert on a London-to-America flight yesterday.

The actions of the woman passenger led the crew of a Washington DC-bound United Airlines flight to declare a security alert.

Two F15 fighters escorted the plane to Boston, US, where it touched down at Logan International Airport. Initially, there had been reports that the woman was carrying a screwdriver, Vaseline, matches and a note about al Qaida. But this was later denied by a Boston airport official, who said there had been no indication that the incident was linked to terrorism.

Flight 923, with 182 passengers and 12 crew on board, had left Heathrow at 8.30am yesterday - about half an hour late.

It had been due to land at Washington at 4.10pm UK time and then fly on to Denver, Colorado.

United Airlines in London said the captain had declared a security emergency and that there had been "an altercation with at least one female passenger".

A United Airlines spokeswoman went on: "The plane is safely on the ground in Boston.

"The crew assessed the situation and determined that a divert was the appropriate course of action."

All the passengers and their luggage were taken off the plane.

The luggage was being checked by security officials and sniffer dogs.