Thursday, 4:30 PM
Weirdness and stress at Logan on an uneasy day
Boston, MA - State Police questioned a man wearing a gas mask at Logan Airport today. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)
Two separate incidents at Logan International Airport today demonstrate that, with a possible terroristic threat looming, followed by long lines and missed flights, strange behavior just isn't allowed.
First, a Jet Blue flight from Boston to Richmond, Va., returned to its gate after pulling away when two teenage passengers refused to stop taking pictures in the cabin. Passengers told flight attendants the two were making them uneasy, according to Massport spokesman Richard Walsh.
When the two refused to stop, the plane returned to the gate and the two unnamed teens were taken off the flight, spoken to by Massachusetts State Police, and rebooked on another flight, Walsh said.
Later in the day, an unidentified man reportedly with severe allergies was stopped and questioned by State Police in Logan's Terminal B for wearing a ventilation mask and carrying a bag of liquid which he initially refused to give up.
Police said the man, who had flown to Boston for a doctor's appointment and was trying to return to Minnesota, was cooperative. He was not arrested.
Kelly Concel, 32, who was flying to the Philippines, said he saw police officers chasing the man, who was dressed in dirty white clothes and wearing "brown astronaut shoes" and a mask.
State Trooper John Farnam said the man was causing no harm but may have frightened people because of his eccentric dress which included heavy boots, white clothes, a mask, and a large black duffle bag, filled with five or six bottles of water. The man came to the airport around 12:15 p.m. "He's a Howard Hughes type without the money," Farnam said.
Farnam said the man was dressed eccentrically enough to make others uneasy on a day like today.
