An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to New York early Thursday after a crew member became suspicious of one of the passengers, an airline spokeswoman said.The crew member aboard Flight 136 -- scheduled to fly nonstop from Los Angeles International Airport to London Heathrow Airport -- questioned a passenger whom the employee had seen bypassing security by traveling on an employee-only bus from the parking lot to the LAX airport, according to spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon.
Following that conversation, the decision to divert the Boeing 777 was made, Whitemon said. The plane landed at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport about 2:30 a.m. ET. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told CNN an initial report he received from American Airlines indicated the passenger in question was actually an off-duty employee.
"I think they're still in the process of sorting this out," he said of airport officials. "It may turn out that this is nothing more than a misunderstanding with an employee who used an employee bus to get on a plane for a private flight.
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