London Plane Diverted to Logan

A United Airlines plane travelling from London to Washington D.C. was forced to land at Logan Airport this morning after a 60-year-old female passenger became agitated, claiming fear of claustrophobia on board. This U.S. citizen had to be restrained by passengers and was arrested by State Police once the plane landed at Terminal E. We much prefer when planes are diverted to less populated places, like Bangor. It's a little disconcerting that this DC-bound flight was diverted to our populace - we're sure if Mitt was in the Whitehouse he wouldn't let those Washington folks value themselves over Massachusetts - or would he?

When the story first broke, there was word that the passenger had a screwdriver, two notes referencing al-Qaeda, Vaseline, and matches with her. CNN reported that a government official had told them this information, but it was later retracted by the Transportation Security Administration; she did possess handcream (now a no-no on board) and matches (how are these still legal to bring on?)

Federal officials are saying that it was a disturbance and for now, it does not appear to be terror-related. This of course comes after last week's announcement of a terrorist plot to blow up airplanes mid-flight from London to the U.S. After raising the terror alert to "red" (severe) on all in-bound international flights and cracking down even more on carry-on items (no more hair gel touchups anymore), the government has seemed to really step up after this latest terrorist plot was thwarted.

But we have to ask, if this supposedly isn't terror-related, then why are they going through every person's luggage laid out on the tarmac?

It's not the actual plane, but it looks identical to this one taken by Flickr user planephotoman.