FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - AA 21 JFK-LAX: Return to gate because of one passenger too many on board
Old Feb 16, 2012, 11:01 am
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Artur
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, Delta Platinum, HH Silver, Hertz PC, National ExEl
Posts: 115
AA 21 JFK-LAX: Return to gate because of one passenger too many on board

Reporting a just very unusual occurrence on flight AA 21 2/15/12. Plane leaves gate on time. Halfway to the runway, the captain announces, " Unfortunately we have to return to the gate, because we have one too many passenger on board"

Nothing looks out of the ordinary, after getting to the gate very unhappy looking captain comes out of cockpit. Then GA comes on board and after huddling for 5 minutes with the crew, rushes all the way to the back of the aircraft, asking everybody to show boarding pass. Commotion ensues, I am too far away to see what was really going on. Two male passenger leave the plane and we are on the way again.

One fellow passenger surmised, that someone tried to bring a 6 year old child on board as a "lap infant". Unfortunately, it is impossible to verify that. The FA told me, when asked, that the computers went down during the boarding process, which I suppose is going to be the party line.
I highly doubt that, because five minutes before departure, a fellow passenger was handed a boarding pass to J.

Anyway to find out, what was the real story?

I am just wondering, with all the security and TSA, it is a bit scary, when someone not on the manifest can get on board.
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