ANA flight's mid-air U-turn could result in criminal charges

[brooklynite]

Source: ABC News

The FBI is weighing criminal charges against two brothers who got on a Tokyo-bound flight together in Los Angeles allegedly using a single boarding pass, forcing the plane to turn around mid-flight.

Law enforcement sources with knowledge of the situation told ABC News that two brothers went through security at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday with legitimate tickets, but were booked on separate flights to Tokyo. One had a ticket on an All Nippon Airways flight and the other was booked on a United Airlines plane.

The brothers, who have nearly identical names, were able to board the ANA flight together by apparently using a duplicate boarding pass, the sources said. It's unclear how the brother with a United Airlines ticket found a seat on the plane. Their identities have not been revealed, other than being male American citizens.

The flight crew didn't become aware of the situation until roughly four hours into the flight. The airline then decided to turn around mid-air and head back to Los Angeles.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/ana-flights-mid-air-turn-result-criminal-charges/story?id=52024185

[Justice]

1. Wonder if this one incident will result in our having to show our ID with boarding pass again

I can see how it happened, given that boarding passes are printed on regular paper, but would think the basics of security would flag
a boarding pass code being used twice.

[mainer]

10. Flying internationally, I always have to show my passport with my boarding pass

So this should have happened.

[kimbutgar]

31. Last time I flew international in March I had to show my passport and boarding pass to get on plane

I think someone at Ana messed up.

[demopilot]

33. Not necessarily. You must show a passport to GET the boarding card

but not again normally once you're in the gate area.

[kimbutgar]

34. In Frankfurt I had to show both when I boarded in March

[demopilot]

35. Sure, it's up to the local authorities. I think Frankfurt is very cautious

for good reason. One time a while back they actually KEPT every passenger's passports
when they checked in and took them all onto the plane right before closing the doors then
returned them while we taxied out. I think it was Caracas. They even did this to the crew.
Very odd.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Makes no sense if the boarding pass was scanned.

It should have become instantly invalid like a concert ticket.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Yes, how did they pull this off? nt

[rpannier]

4. Whenever I fly to and from Korea they require I show my passport

They check the boarding pass and passport
Granted, it's Chicago to Incheon and on Korean Air, but still...

[demopilot]

5. I realize there are 'procedures', but that pilot was a dumb shit

he, being the ultimate and absolute authority over his aircraft, should have continued on
to Japan and let the local authorities sort out what was very obviously a confusing but no
way threatening situation.

[metalbot]

7. No

The pilot did exactly the correct thing.

Had he proceeded, the airline would have been subject to enormous liability under Japanese law for having landed a passenger who was not on their manifest. This isn't a "let the local authorities sort it out" any more than a truck driver caught smuggling drugs into the US is.

[Ms. Toad]

16. Sorry. I don't buy that.

8 hours of wasted jet fuel (not to mention hundreds(?) of people's time) is not an appropriate response to a stow-away.

There are local police/homeland security/TSA agents in every major country. Alert them to the problem. Have them take the idiots into custody upon landing and hold them temporarily until the plane is serviced, refueled, and ready to head back to the US. March them back on the plane, and send them back to the US.

[demopilot]

18. Not if he had a passport and a visa, which he probably did.

A truck driver who -unknowningly- brought drugs into the US wouldn't be prosecuted.

[mpcamb]

8. The pilot? Do pilots check the manifest? Or take someone's word for things being in order?

I agree, Keep going, Most of the people payed legitimately and deserve to get where they're going as expected. Legally and every other way kick ass on the perps, but why penalize the hundred(s) of innocents?

[Scruffy1]

14. I am sure the decision was made from above the pilot level.

Or at least he checked in with the company before turning around to CYA.

[demopilot]

19. Every pilot on every airline has absolute ultimate authority.

That has always been the case. I suppose some would like to change it, I do not.

[RainCaster]

30. But not until the doors close

That is the law. Same for ships - the captain of a ship is not in charge until the pilot has left the helm.

[demopilot]

32. I'm fairly confident the doors were closed

at 36000 feet over the Pacific Ocean.

[NCDem777]

6. Ya know considering how much of a pain in the ass

flying is, I think it should be legal for passengers to lay out other passengers who do stupid shit like this. Everybody aboard gets a free shot.

[demopilot]

21. Like in the movie "Airplane" YEAH!

[RKP5637]

27. ...

[Salviati]

29. SKY LAW!

[Rollo]

9. Just wait until George Foreman's sons try to fly to Japan...

They are ALL named George Foreman... LOL...

[miyazaki]

12. Rofl.

That or some kind of twinsters convention.

[mainer]

11. I don't see how this is a criminal thing

Also, from what I read in an earlier story, it was one of the brothers who brought up the issue during the flight.

[Cold War Spook]

13. Why didn't the pilot take the third alternative.

Number 1, turn around. Number 2, continue with the extra passenger. Number 3, let the passenger off.

[Retrograde]

15. Let the passenger off where?

There aren't a lot of places to land on a direct LA-Tokyo route without going a good deal out of the way. I suppose they could have given the guy a life vest and told him to swim back....

I was on a flight to Hawai'i once that turned back due to a medical emergency on board. We were only about 90 minutes out from SFO, but it was still a big deal for the airline, who after landing had to deal with a planeful of passengers who still needed to get where they were going, not to mention all the other delayed takeoffs and landings, since the emergency landing of our flight essentially grounded everyone else. Then the plane had to be refueled, and a new flight crew found as the original crew went over their time limit, but I'll give United credit for getting us to the original destination that same day - barely.

What I'd be interested in knowing is why didn't the flight attendants notice that their headcounts were off, and how did the guy managed to find an empty seat? I haven't been on a less than full airplane in over a decade!

[Cold War Spook]

17. I was thinking about 35,000 feet.

I was thinking about 35,000 feet.

[demopilot]

20. Westbound flights have even thousands of altitude

FL 360, 380, etc.

[Cold War Spook]

24. Thank you

I stand corrected, 36,000 feet.

[miyazaki]

22. There is a military strip on one of the Aleutian Islands that

occasional Pacific flights use when in distress.

[Cold War Spook]

25. The Air Force still has a landing strip on Shemya.

I don't know if the Army Security Agency (old name) still has a listening station there.

[jmowreader]

23. You can't just throw a passenger out of a plane at 34,000 feet

Airliners use a wedge-shaped plug door. When the plane gets up to altitude, the door just jams itself shut.

This may only be me, but if I was running ANA flight ops that day I would have given serious thought to diverting the plane to Honolulu. HNL is definitely out of route if you're flying LAX-NRT, but they could have handed the two brothers over to TSA in Hawaii, bought the honest passengers lunch and refueled...most people would be okay with that, as long as they landed in Tokyo the same day so they didn't have to screw with their hotel reservations.

[Sneederbunk]

26. Finding a seat is the big mystery here. Also, what alerted the attendants?

[unblock]

28. Finding a seat is easy if its not full. Even if it is, theres always the bathroom