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L.A.-London Flight Diverted To JFK

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Jul 12, 2007 9:43 am US/Eastern

L.A.-London Flight Diverted To JFK

Crew Alerted To Suspicious Passenger, TSA Tells CBS 2 News

QUEENS (CBS) ― A Los Angeles-to-London American Airlines flight was diverted to John F. Kennedy International Airport Thursday morning.

A Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman tells CBS 2 News that American Airlines Flight 136 departed Los Angeles International Airport at 9 p.m. Eastern time bound for London.

Officials now tell CBS 2 News that unfounded fears of a security breach could have caused the plane's diversion to JFK.

American Airlines spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon said that a flight attendant on the American Airlines plane apparently became suspicious of a passenger who was believed to have skirted standard airport screening procedures in Los Angeles before boarding the flight to London Heathrow Airport.

Whitemon said the attendant had seen the male passenger ride to the terminal on an employee bus and bypass security, as employees are able to do. After talking to the man in question, Whitemon said, flight crew members decided to divert the plane and re-screen the 230 passengers.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told CNN that the incident might have been a miscue.

"The individual in question was, in fact, an employee who was traveling in a private capacity," Chertoff told the cable network, saying he had gotten information from airline representatives. "It may very well turn out that this is nothing more than a misunderstanding with an employee."

The flight landed at JFK at about 3:30 a.m.

Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said the agency learned at around 2:30 a.m. that the flight was being diverted.

CBS 2 and WCBSTV.com will bring you the latest details on this story as they become available.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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