Airline delays flight over bomb joke

MANILA, Philippines - An Airphil Express flight bound for Puerto Princesa aborted its takeoff at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) yesterday after an imam warned there would be an explosion if he and his group would not be seated together.

Roberto Almario said he and his group of 15 members were going to Puerto Princesa to fulfill a religious mission. One group was on Flight 2P943, while the others were set to take the next flight to Palawan.

Almario said he found out upon entering the plane that they were assigned different seats. He said he asked his seatmate to move to another seat so he could be seated next to his daughter. The male passenger apparently ignored Almario’s request.

He then told the passenger that he would just have his daughter sit on his lap. A flight attendant, who witnessed the exchange, warned Almario that airline rules prohibit more than one passenger from occupying the same seat.

This prompted Almario to say, “O sige, kung ayaw mo, may sasabog (All right, if you don’t allow this, something will explode).”

The attendant who heard Almario’s statement took it seriously and told the pilot about it, prompting the pilot to delay the flight. At the Pasay police headquarters, Almario said he was only joking.

Flight 2P943 was delayed from leaving NAIA-3 by about four hours and the Airphil Express crew is pursuing charges against Almario.

NAIA-3 terminal manager Bing Lina said the delayed Airphil Express flight also caused delays in scores of flights leaving and arriving at the four NAIA terminals.

The tower controller said Flight 2P943 was brought back to the passenger tube to unload the passengers before the plane was taken to the “isolation ramp or remote parking space,” an area far from the passenger terminal building to avoid casualties in case of an explosion.