Passenger’s behavior slips through cracks
Communication was lacking among police and airline.
A man acted LOS ANGELES — strangely long before he caused a disturbance on an airliner that prompted fighter jets to escort it on its approach to Hawaii, but a lack of communication and the airline’s hesitancy to be caught on video booting a passenger could have played a role in allowing him to fly, experts say.
Anil Uskanli, 25, of Turkey, had purchased a ticket at an airline counter in the middle of the night with no luggage and had been arrested after opening a door to a restricted airfield at Los Angeles International Airport. But airport police let him go with a court summons and did not notify the airline.
After bizarre behavior on board Friday, including what police said was an attempt to get to the front of the jet, Uskanli was arrested by FBI agents and charged with interfering with a flight crew. A federal judge on Monday ordered him to undergo a mental competency evaluation.
The first alarm should have been Uskanli buying his ticket with no bags other than a laptop, said Doren Pely, a director at TAL Global, an international security consulting firm focusing on aviation security.
But Uskanli went through a security screening without raising suspicion and only drew attention when, according to police, he opened a door leading to an airfield ramp.
Airport police said he smelled of alcohol but was not intoxicated enough to be charged, so he was given the summons and released.
Police said officers confiscated his boarding pass and walked him to a public area of the airport. He got another boarding pass and went through security again.
After boarding the American Airlines flight, he sat in first class and had to be asked several times to move, according to a criminal complaint.
“This is a situation where red flags were not accumulating properly because they were not transferred,” Pely said. “If you see one red flag, you may let it go, but if you see three red flags and you let it go, you should be let go.”
Airline employees may have been worried about preventing Uskanli from flying because of recent viral videos of flight crews ejecting passengers, Pely said, also noting they hadn’t been told of his arrest.
Uskanli tried to get to the front of the plane, and a flight attendant used a drink cart to block him. He placed his laptop on the cart, and flight attendants feared it might contain explosives.
That prompted the captain to initiate bomb-threat procedures, and fighter jets escorted the plane to Honolulu.