The increase in disruptive, combative passengers on flights, also known as “air rage” and often involving folks that have had a bit too much to drink, have made headlines in recent years.
For Bangor International Airport, however, the surprise arrival of a diverted plane is a common occurrence — especially when it involves out-of-control passengers.
In the past 14 months, two different Trans-Atlantic flights had to be diverted to Bangor so allegedly drunk and disorderly Englishmen could be removed from the aircrafts by law enforcement.
The first, on Jan. 2, 2023, involved two Manchester men on a plane leaving from Cancun, Mexico to return to England. The men were intoxicated and attacked a flight attendant and a passenger, and their flight was diverted to Bangor. Both men were sentenced to time served, after spending 2 and a half months in Piscataquis County Jail.
The second, on March 1 of this year, involved a Hackney man on a flight from England to Newark, who allegedly was so drunk and threatening he had to be restrained with disposable handcuffs, and the plane diverted to Bangor. The man is still being held in custody as law enforcement has deemed him a flight risk.
Bangor International Airport marketing and business development manager Aimee Thibodeau said that while the airport doesn’t keep specific data on the individual reasons why planes are diverted, it occurs regularly, and airport staff and local police are well-versed in handling them.
“Any flights that are on the Great Circle route are at least familiar with Bangor as a place to land should any issues arise that require a diversion,” Thibodeau said, referring to flights over the North Atlantic between Europe and North America.
Bangor’s airport is a common destination for diverted international flights because of its location at the northeast point of the country and because it is not as busy as larger airports on the East Coast. Planes also divert there for mechanical problems, medical emergencies, bad weather and other security issues, such as a 2010 incident on a flight from Paris to Atlanta. On that flight, an American claimed to have a fake passport and explosives in his luggage — neither of which turned out to be true.
With each plane that is diverted, the airport receives fees from airlines to cover the costs of the services provided, such as refueling and processing disembarking passengers.
In 2008, there were two more incidents. On March 1, 2008, a flight from Atlanta to Dublin was diverted after police said a Northern Irish man tried to smoke in a plane bathroom, and claimed he was an associate of Osama bin Laden and would bomb the plane.
Less than two weeks later, on March 12, 2008 a Russian woman on a flight from Moscow to New York was removed from a diverted plane after she allegedly drank eight mini bottles of Scotch and attacked a flight attendant.
In what was likely the largest number of people involved in an incident that caused a flight to be diverted to Bangor, 20 British citizens on a 2004 flight from London to Chicago — on their way to a wedding in Las Vegas — were removed from a plane after allegedly becoming disruptive. While none of them were charged with a crime, they were all left stranded in Bangor.
A few years before that, two air rage incidents led to two flights being diverted to Bangor — both on the same day and both involving passengers from England.
The first involved a Britannia Airways flight from London to Cancun, which landed in Bangor on May 18, 2001 due to a British passenger who had allegedly gotten out of control after drinking from his own liquor bottle. Police said he assaulted his girlfriend, spit on other passengers, and that it took seven people to restrain him. Bangor police later said they found hash and ecstasy in his pockets.
That flight, with 277 people on board, did not take off again until the following day, and some passengers had to be bussed as far away as Mount Desert Island in order to find hotel rooms, since most in Bangor were booked up due to graduation ceremonies and a concert in town.
That same day, another flight from London to Mexico City also landed at the airport, with two more Englishmen arrested for disorderly conduct after allegedly drinking their own alcohol on the plane and assaulting flight attendants.
Less than three weeks before that, on May 1, 2001, yet another Englishman was arrested at Bangor International Airport after allegedly creating a disturbance on a flight that had stopped to refuel.
In spring 1999, two more incidents involving unruly Englishmen made national headlines. On May 3 of that year, a British man kicked out the interior part of a plane window during a flight headed from London to Orlando, resulting in the flight being diverted to Bangor and a $25,875 fine and 60 days in jail for the man.
A month later, a Manchester, England, man disrupted a Delta flight from Atlanta to Manchester, resulting in a Bangor landing. The man, Christopher James Bayes, 42, skipped out on his six month prison sentence and was later indicted on that charge as well.
