Holiday Decoration Leads To Unscheduled Stop

Another Northwest Airlines flight had an emergency landing after a suspicious package was found during the flight on Friday morning.  Northwest flight 2364 made an unscheduled stop in Nashville (BNA) to inspect what ended up being an ornament.

The 75 passengers and five crew were deplaned at a remote BNA terminal while the A320 was searched by dogs.  Passengers re-boarded two hours later once the item was determined to be a harmless Christmas ornament.

Passenger Lindsay Vandenbroeck told the Orlando Sentinel that the initial announcement made her nervous, but she agreed with the flight crew's actions. "I'm glad they did it, because I'd rather play it safe than sorry ... and they gave us free lunch," Vandenbroeck said.

Delta Airlines spokesman Carlos Santos says the flight was diverted "out of an abundance of caution" when an unusual package was discovered during the early-morning flight from DTW to MCO.  "Fortunately, it turned out to be a harmless article" said Santos.

Santos had no information on who found the ornament, why it was considered suspicious, or whether it was returned to a passenger on the flight.  "I have not seen it," he said.

FMI: www.delta.com