Drunk, unruly passenger forces Air Canada plane to land in Miami

By News Staff

An Air Canada Rouge flight en route from Costa Rica to Toronto was forced to land in Miami due to a drunk and unruly passenger — less than two weeks after a similar incident on a flight from Jamaica.

The unscheduled stop happened around 11 p.m. on Thursday, Miami International Airport spokesperson Mark Henderson told CityNews. The plane took off again around midnight, he said.

It was flight AC1807, Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in an email. The Boeing 767 had 281 passengers on board.

“One passenger became disruptive so the captain elected to divert to Miami where the customer was offloaded,” Fitzpatrick said. The aircraft continued on normally to Toronto after about an hour on the ground, he confirmed.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the passenger was drunk. He was “removed from the flight, was awaiting return to Canada, escorted by Air Canada security,” the spokesman said.

“Generally, I can tell you that our staff are trained to deal with all types of situations, including serving alcohol responsibly and responding appropriately to any disturbances on aircraft,” Fitzpatrick explained.

The name of the passenger has not been released, and it’s not known if any charges will be laid.

Canadian Aviation Regulations state that passengers who are visibly intoxicated are not allowed to board the plane.

“Subject to subsection (5), no operator of an aircraft shall allow a person to board the aircraft, where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person’s faculties are impaired by alcohol or a drug to an extent that may present a hazard to the aircraft or to persons on board the aircraft.”

On May 15, an Air Canada plane en route from Jamaica to Toronto had to divert to Florida when an unruly passenger threatened to take down the plane by opening a cabin door.

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