Category: Transport Watch

In what some are calling an attempted hijacking, a suspect has been arrested after boarding an empty and parked Mauritania Airlines at Nouakchott International Airport-Oumtounsy. Reports say the hijacker was threatening to destroy the aircraft by setting it on fire and issued demands to authorities. The aircraft had been sitting, parked and empty, and there were no reports of injuries or casualties at this time. Flights into the airport were stopped but resumed shortly after.

easyJet settled a lawsuit with a British-Israeli woman who was made to move seats twice because her originally-assigned seatmates, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, refused to sit with her. She did move even though she did not want to. Later she lodged a formal complaint with the company, asking for 15000 pounds, however the final agreed compensation was not released. A statement by easyJet said, “EasyJet does not believe that female passengers should be asked to move seats simply based on their gender. The airline has a policy to politely inform any customer who raises this request that this will not be accommodated. Unfortunately, according to Melanie Wolfson this policy was not followed in her case. EasyJet is committed to tackling any discrimination on flights…we take this very seriously and in addition to compensating Ms. Wolfson for her experience, easyJet intends to implement additional crew training and renew our crew guidelines in order to prevent these incidents happening in the future.”

A woman was restrained on a Russian flight a few minutes after it departed from Vladivostok. The woman, suspected of being on drugs, got out of her seat, began roaming the aisle and disrobing. She refused flight attendants orders to return to her seat and repeated tried to remove her underwear. Passengers and crew used ropes, a seat belt and tape to restrain her in her seat. She was arrested upon arrival at Tolmachevo airport in Novosibirsk, Siberia where she admitted to law enforcement that she had taken a synthetic drug prior to departure.

An attack consisting of six mortar rounds that landed in the perimeter of the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu wounded at least two. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. UN Secretary-General for Somalia, James Swan, quickly condemned the attack, saying in a statement, “I condemn this Al-Shabaab mortar attack on the airport facility in Mogadishu. We wish a speedy recovery to those injured elsewhere at the airport. Despite such acts of violence, Somalia’s international partners remain committed to stand by the people of Somalia, and continue supporting the advancement of the country.”

Insarallah Movement (Houthi forces) said they launched a new ballistic missile strike on targets including a Saudi airport inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e, spokesman for the Ansarallah-linked Yemeni armed forces, tweeted “the Missile Force targeted a sensitive military target at Abha International Airport with a new ballistic missile, which has entered service recently and has not been revealed yet, the designated targeted has been hit with high precision.

A Delta Air Lines flight attendant is accused of inappropriately touching, rubbing and/or stroking an 11-year-old passenger traveling alone from Fort Lauderdale to Australia in December of 2019. The account alleges the unidentified attendant did this “multiple times and in different manners.” The flight attendant is also accused of making inappropriate, sexualized comments, including: “your body’s beautiful” and “I love you,” the suit alleges. The girl reported the incident to Los Angeles police at the airport. A police report says the victim “visibly shaken,” according to the complaint filed by Coral Gables lawyer Ian Pinkert. the airline said it was aware of the lawsuit. “Delta contacted law enforcement immediately upon learning of the initial allegations and cooperated in their investigation,” the airline said in a statement after learning of the allegations. “To Delta’s knowledge, no criminal charges were brought against any Delta employee. Delta has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct in any form by its employees.”

A plot to hijack an Iran Air aircraft was apparently foiled before it could be carried out in Iran on March 5. “A conspiracy to hijack a Fokker 100 aircraft belonging to Iran Air was neutralized thanks to the vigilance of the IRGC flight security unit,” the IRGC public relations office said in a statement published on its official website. The hijacker was planning to make the flight deviate toward an unspecified country on the southern shore of the Gulf, the statement said. The aircraft instead diverted to Isfahan airport after declaring an emergency and the accused hijacker was arrested.

Finnair’s customer loyalty database was hacked, a statement by the airline said. Some 200,000 frequent flyers were effected when hackers breached the Finnair Plus program. The airline reported the event to the country’s Data Protection Authority. Finnair says that although names and customer numbers were compromised, the hackers did not get credit card info, contact info or passwords. The airline also says their own systems were not hacked – this event took place via a service provider that held the data. Nevertheless, the airline recommended changing passwords to their Plus members.

A 12-year-old boy allegedly made threat against the Incheon International Airport. The boy, a regular Youtuber, allegedly made a video that warned of an attack at the Incheon airport, on March 1, Korean Independence Movement Day. Google and Youtube (owned by Google) assisted in confirming where the video was uploaded which helped authorities find the child. He is said to be born in South Korea but living in the US. Authorities are considering charging the culprit in violation of the Aviation Security Act.

A woman believes she may have been the target of a racist TSA worker. Aundrea DeMille says she was ordered to remove her sports bra while processing through security at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport in Arizona. Upon observation, she said she was the only person subjected to the to the strip. DeMille says she was ordered to remove the bra while passing through a full body scanner as she headed home to Utah.