American Airlines flight from California was diverted after passenger made threatening statement

By Michelle Watson and Gregory Wallace | CNN

Spokesperson for American Airlines speak.

“American Airlines Flight 482 from Charlotte (CLT) to Los Angeles (LAX) diverted to Albuquerque (ABQ) after passenger disruption that included threatening language towards a crew member,” Airline spokesman Curtis Blessing said in an emailed statement to CNN.

“The plane was responded to by local law enforcement after safely landing at ABQ at 10:25pm local time. The passengers involved were deported and the flight subsequently departed back to LAX,” the statement said.

“We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this has caused to their travel plans.”

So far this year 323 unruly passenger incident was reported to Federal Aviation Administration. There were 5,981 incidents reported last year.

A spokesperson for Albuquerque International Airport Sunport said it can “confirm that there was an unscheduled US airline entry flight last night”.

The spokesman said the FBI has taken over the case.

Blessing said American Airlines wants its “customers to adhere to… the policies when they choose to fly with us, and we take action when that doesn’t happen.”

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