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| British Airways Cancels Flight to D.C. |
| 2004-01-02 |
| LONDON (AP) - British Airways canceled a flight from Heathrow Airport to Washington on Friday, the third time in three days that the flight was disrupted on security advice from the British government, an airline spokesman said. This is getting to be a habit. Friday’s cancellation came amid a tightening of the security net over U.S. airspace around the New Year’s holiday, a week and a half after the Bush administration raised the national terrorism alert to orange, its second-highest level. The airline would not comment on the nature of the security advice that prompted Friday’s cancellation of BA Flight 223. The flight was canceled less than two hours before takeoff and some of the 300 passengers had already begun to check in. "Oh, Nigel, not again! They’ve cancelled our flight!" "Well Ducks, there’s nothing to be done. Re-inflate the air mattress, will you love, and we’ll just settle back into the check-in lounge for the night." Flight 223, one of three daily flights to the U.S. capital, was also canceled Thursday on government advice. Another British Airways flight from Washington to London was delayed Thursday night as U.S. authorities re-screened passengers. The flight took off more than three hours late. On Wednesday, Flight 223 was kept on the taxiway at Washington Dulles International Airport for several hours shortly after landing, while U.S. authorities questioned passengers and crew on board. ``We had concerns with individuals on the flight,’’ a U.S. national security official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity. The official said the questioning was prompted by intelligence information and not just suspicious passenger names. Persistent buggers, whoever they are. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Still trying to a terrorist attack in shortly after New Years, huh? Someone should really just shoot them in the knee-caps so they can't walk to the cockpit. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-1-2 10:49:40 AM |