DENVER -- Disruptive passengers caused two commercial airplanes to be diverted Friday, with military jets scrambling to escort a San Francisco-bound flight into a Colorado airport, authorities said.
The incidents come amid heightened concern over airline security after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day. And in London late Friday, police arrested three passengers after removing them from a jetliner bound for Dubai. Officials described it only as a security incident.
Two F-16s were launched at 11:44 a.m. to catch up with AirTran Airways Flight 39 from Atlanta to San Francisco after a report that an intoxicated passenger had locked himself in a bathroom, the Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command said.
The jets arrived over Colorado Springs Airport as the captain - who AirTran said had decided to divert the plane - landed there around noon, NORAD spokeswoman Stacey Knott said.
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