Disruption on AA31; fighters escort the flight in

[RooFlyer]

Turkish national attempts to approach the cabin, behaving oddly then and before.

A man was handcuffed and led off a plane in Honolulu on Friday after passengers helped duct-tape him to his seat and fighter jets escorted the flight to the airport.

Before he even boarded the plane, Anil Uskanil had been arrested by police at Los Angeles International Airport after a worker allegedly spotted him walking through a security door leading from the terminal to an airfield ramp shortly before 3am Friday. He was released after being charged with a misdemeanour, police said. The 25-year-old had been drinking, airport police explained in a statement, but wasn't drunk.

Halfway through the flight, around 9.30am, according to an FBI agent, Uskanil again appeared in the front of the plane with his laptop. This time, passengers said, had a towel or blanket over his head.
...

A flight attendant ran down the aisle with a beverage cart, using it to block Uskanil from the front of the plane.

"She jammed the cart in the doorway and she just said, 'You're not coming in here,'" passenger Lee Lorenzen told the Associated Press.

Lorenzen was among several passengers, including an off-duty police officer, who tried to restrain the man.

"He was pushing against the cart and a bunch of guys grabbed him," he told Hawaii News Now. "They found some duct tape. There were pillows and blankets. And they taped him to his chair."

Reports of Uskanil's behaviour on the plane prompted two F-22 Raptor fighter jets to scramble.The escort was in accordance with security procedures, a Navy commander told CNBC.

 

[Himeno]

A non story.
A drunk idiot wanted to use the rest room and tried the wrong door. Common.

They are playing up the "laptop" for fearmongering.

 

[RooFlyer]

Where is that angle from ... not doubting you, just can't find it.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

American Airlines Flight Threatened By Fighter Jets Because Man Brought Laptop Near the Lavatory - View from the Wing

However the reporting, based on little evidence at this time that there was an actually-dangerous laptop but still repeating concerns about flying with laptops, strikes me as unfortunate to say the least.

 

[RooFlyer]

That VFtW story seems to make much of the fact that he had a laptop with him (perpetuating the "unfortunate reporting") but nothing of the reports that he approached the front of the cabin rather forcefully.

As ever, truth will lag and then we'll all settle back into our seats

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Ignoring the clickbait title, the VTWF article is almost entirely about the laptop angle (not the laptop itself), which is what you asked about.

As ever, truth will lag and then we'll all settle back into our seats

It's probably unlikely that any further meaningful details will come to light. Unless there are terrorism links, or it's used to justify further onboard electronics bans (or if the guy gets poor treatment on a United flight!), the world will forget about it. Charges may not even be laid.