So think you don’t have to worry about some maniac hijacking a plane when flying domestic?
Airport authorities said today they will step up security after a mentally ill man with no ID or boarding pass just totally walked onto a Nok Air flight Saturday morning at Hat Yai Airport.
Passengers were alarmed after the man was discovered sitting on the plane in a seat ticketed to another passenger. He was escorted out of the aircraft by security, leaving the passengers of DD7105 demanding the checked luggage be searched.
Nok CEO Patee Sarasin later apologized for the incident, saying Nok Air required passengers to exit the plane along with their baggage before an inspection found no unclaimed bags left in the cabin.
Twenty passengers refused to re-board the flight, so the airline put them on the next one.
Patee added the company has met with police and the airport security officials to increase safety measures and promised the airline would be stricter when inspecting documents before allowing passengers to board its jets.
The man was identified yesterday as a mentally ill person who regularly wandered around the airport. An airport official said he’d tried one time before to enter a restricted area.
The plane sneaker told an airport employee he was a friend of the plane’s pilot and would like to see him. The employee who then allowed him to pass the checkpoint was new and had been working for only three days, NNT and Bangkok Post reported.
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