A man on a Spirit Airlines flight was arrested at LaGuardia Airport after he refused to turn off his cell phone and made threatening comments to fellow passengers and crew members.
The unidentified 30-year-old man from upstate Spring Valley was pulled off of Flight 197, which was about to take off for Fort Lauderdale, Fla. around 11 a.m.
According to the New York Post, the man was making threatening comments to another passenger. According to NBC, the man was threatening the flight crew after they told him to turn off his cell phone."A customer would not comply with instructions to turn off his cell phone and made a threat to the flight crew," a Spirit Airline spokesperson told NBC.
Police were called and the man was taken into custody.The man who made the comments was charged with filing a false report and making a terroristic threat, according to the Post.
The other passengers were also removed from the plane and had to be re-screened along with their baggage. There were 145 passengers and five crew members on board.
Authorities did not find a credible threat and the flight was cleared for takeoff.
This wasn't the first time that cell phone use got someone kicked off a plane. Actor Alec Baldwin was kicked off of a flight in December 2011 when he refused to turn off his cell phone when the doors closed.
In September, a fight between flight attendants, which started over a cell phone, caused an American Eagle flight to be delayed for four hours.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
