Plane Diverted Because of Religious Phylacteries and Tefillin

By Amanda Pendolino on January 21st, 2010

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A Louisville, Kentucky-bound plane that departed from LaGuardia Airport in New York this morning was diverted to Philadelphia because of a man’s religious items, CNN reports. Until now, I didn’t know the meaning of phylacteries or tefillin, and apparently neither did the TSA.

FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver said there appeared to be no threat from the 17 year-old, who was described as wearing something on his head that included leather pieces. They’re simply black boxes filled with religious verses that Orthodox Jewish men wear during prayer. The Transportation Security Administration said it was notified of what it called a disruptive passenger on Flight 3079, operated by Chautauqua Airlines, around 8:30 a.m. ET, and the plane landed normally at Philadelphia International Airport about 20 minutes later.

US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said the diversion was a “security precaution.”  TSA and law enforcement officials met the flight, interviewed the passenger and did a security sweep of the plane without finding anything of concern, the agency said. I would imagine that TSA is toughening up their security after the attempted Christmas bombing - but was this really necessary? Should airline employees be a little more cognizant of religious and cultural practices that aren’t dangerous? Couldn’t they have asked the man to explain what he was doing?