HOUSTON— Passengers aboard a Continental Airlines flight bound for Houston Tuesday sprang into action to help a flight attendant having trouble with an unruly passenger. Twenty minutes after the plane departed Portland, pilots returned to the city where the FBI was waiting. Passengers said the unruly man was a problem from the beginning. After boarding Flight 1113, the man became upset because he was not seated next to his friend. Then after the flight took off, he ignored the “No Smoking” sign and tried to light an electronic cigarette. A flight attendant asked the passenger to turn off the cigarette, but he refused. The Middle Eastern man started screaming at the smaller woman. “He was screaming, ‘Allah is great, Allah is great,’” said Nancy Haywood, passenger. “And it kind of worries you when that happens, but believe me, there were enough men to hold him down.” And they did. Men on the plane jumped up and ran to assist the flight attendant. “Every guy that was in my area was ready to go,” said Mark Foster, passenger. “It was not even a thought. You can tell buckles were off and people were already leaning toward the aisles.” The men subdued the unruly passenger while the flight attendant ran to the back and retrieved plastic handcuffs and ankle cuffs. “It almost made me cry to see the way everybody responded because the gentlemen that could help got up and helped the stewardess; she was just a little bitty thing,” said Jeanna Wisher. “What happened should have happened, everybody got up and did a part that needed to do it.” The passenger and his companion were taken into custody when the plane landed. The flight resumed and departed Portland around 2:05 p.m. The rest of the passengers finally arrived in Houston late Tuesday night. The TSA said the incident was not a security issue. “Continental Flight 1113, Portland to Houston, returned to Portland when a passenger refused to obey the ‘No Smoking” sign. The passenger and traveling companion were taken off the plane,” Christen David of United/ Continental Corporate Communications said in a released a statement It was not known what charges would be filed. ___________________________________________________________ Couldn't happen to a nicer couple of fellows.... to bad they didn't stomp his buddy as well...... ..... YMMV......
Yeah...good. If a Christian had done the same thing in one of the forsaken deserts, he would've been beheaded tomorrow. ....religion of peace...right.
An electronic cigarette? That isn't smoking. They don't burn, you don't light them, they don't smoke, just give off a slight mist that is harmful to nobody but the one puffing on it.
And we are bestest friends with the most backwards of them all... says a lot for the Christian leaders in DC.
An over reaction to something that is not against the law, an electronic cigarette is not smoking. Might not have been a good idea for him to shout Allah is great but that is not against the law, I think some might have over reacted. I seriously doubt had somebody yelled God is great would have gotten the same treatment.
Did you happen to watch any television on September 11, 2001 ? Some bastard pulls that crap while I'm on a plane at 35,000 feet, my knee will be grinding into his trachea until he is MFing DEAD.
Yup, sure did but that does not make all Muslims bad and give everybody the right to attack all Muslims when they express their passion for their God. Have you forgotten that part in the Constitution called freedom of religion or does it only apply to some people. Now maybe this could be along the lines as if somebody yelled fire in a theater but it not against the law to express one's belief in their God, unless you do not believe in that piece of paper called the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I've not forgotten the 1st Amendment discussion that indicates shouting "FIRE !" in a theatre isn't covered. That bastard knew exactly what he was doing, and asked for a reaction, for some unknown reason. And as far as I'm concerned, all Muslims who obey the Koran's directives ARE "bad," to use an euphemism. Actually, I think they are animals, enemies of my country and culture, and should be treated like rattlesnakes or cockroaches, and stomped whenever, wherever, encountered. Stand up on an airliner in flight, and "... express their passion for their God." You got a problem, son.
If it was a big guy getting unruly with a small flight attendant he got what he deserved. You disturb a flight like that if I am on it and I feel my safety is threatened by your behavior i'd put a boot in your behind too. Doesn't matter what he yelled.
I will not disagree with your statement but the attendant over reacted about something that was not against the law, the electronic cigarette got pass the TSA. What he did afterwards might not have been a good idea.
CC has a good point... but in this situation, Where the fellow was not responding to the Flight Attendants instructions, which by the way, DO HAVE THE FORCE of LAW. Then shouts "Allah is Great" twice.... That would seem to constitute a reasonable exception, to the 1st Amendment Rule, on Freedom of Speech. All this assumes, that this Yahoo was a US Citizen, which is not stated in the article. If a non-Citizen, then he has NO Expectation of protection from the 1st Amendment, anyway, as Freedom of Speech is NOT covered by any International Agreements that the USA, is Signatory to.... .... YMMV....
Espada, I guess I got a problem too and I'm agnostic, if not atheist. You want to paint people with that broad a brush, that's your prerogative but I stand for the Millions that gave their lives to protect those freedoms that defined our Nation and so many of you angry people have trampled the Constitution with your hate and anger and you think the exception is acceptable when it applies to someone different than you but I got got news for you buddy, for it to apply to any of us it has to apply to ALL of us and that includes those that would use it against us.
I will not disagree with you on what the law says. I thought the attendant over reacted about something that is not illegal. Do I agree with what the law states....
The FORCE OF LAW in caps, no less; ****ing wow. A Flight attendant (Stewardess?)? I remember one fellow with a fire-cracker fuse sticking out of his flip-flop and the hundreds of millions of people that now have to take their shoes off to get onto an airplane every day. Sometimes, the FORCE OF LAW might should be tempered with a tiny bit of reality?