DENVER — Police detained three passengers at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport on Sunday after the crew of the Frontier Airlines flight from Denver reported suspicious activity on board and NORAD sent two F-16 jets to shadow the flight until it landed safely, the airline and federal officials said.

Frontier Flight 623, with 116 passengers on board, landed without incident in Detroit at 3:30 p.m. EDT after the crew reported that two people were spending “an extraordinarily long time” in a bathroom, Frontier spokesman Peter Kowalchuck said.

The Airbus 318 taxied to a pad away from the terminal and police took three passengers into custody, Kowalchuck said. The three escorted off the plane in handcuffs included two men and a woman, passenger Ilona Hajdar, of Charlotte, Mich., told The Associated Press.

She said she realized there was a problem when the plane’s bridge didn’t extend at the gate. The plane then rolled to a remote spot on the airfield. After about a half hour, police SWAT boarded.

“Everybody, put your hands on the seat rest in front of you. Don’t move,’” said Hajdar, 27, who had been asleep for most of the flight and on board with her 2 ½-year-old daughter.

Authorities cleared the aircraft at 5:15 p.m. EDT after it was searched, the Transportation Security Administration said.
Kowalchuck said luggage was removed from the plane for inspection by police K-9 sniffer dogs. The remaining passengers were taken by bus to the terminal.

Flight 623 originated in San Diego before stopping at Denver International Airport on its way to Detroit.

In Denver, the FBI said that the North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled F-16 fighter jets to shadow the plane “out of an abundance of caution.” The plane was searched and nothing was found, the FBI said.

FBI Denver spokesman Dave Joly referred further questions about the incident to Detroit authorities.

Two F-16s were dispatched to shadow the Airbus, said John Cornelio, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesman Scott Wintner says the Frontier flight crew radioed to request police help when the plane landed, prompting responders to greet the flight and question passengers after the aircraft taxied to a remote location at the airport.

Wintner said he didn’t know the nature of the security issue.

Also Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, NORAD sent two F-16s to escort a Los Angeles-to-New York American Airlines flight after three passengers made repeated trips to the bathroom, officials said. A law enforcement official said it wasn’t thought to be terrorism. Flight 34 landed safely at New York’s Kennedy Airport.

New York has been in a heightened state of security after federal officials received a credible but uncorroborated tip of a car bomb plot on the anniversary in either New York or Washington.

Printed on September 12, 2011 as: Detroit police detain airplane passengers for suspicious activity