A passenger on a Canadian North flight from Yellowknife was escorted off the plane by police at Edmonton International Airport Thursday night, after he refused to take his seat prior to landing.
According to a spokesperson for Canadian North, Kelly Lewis, the man stood up during the flight’s final landing approach and refused to listen to repeated instructions from crew members to return to his seat and fasten his seatbelt.
Lewis said the pilot chose to abort the first landing approach so the crew could get the passenger to sit down. The man then sat on the floor, so they were able to land after a second approach.
The incident delayed the landing by 10 minutes.
CBC North reporter Randi Beers was on the flight and said she saw the man get up and walk to the front of the plane.
“The flight attendant was kind of following behind him and I heard her say to him ‘What are you looking for?'” she said.
Beers said she couldn’t see much after the man reached the front of the plane but she did see the flight attendant speaking with him and that she seemed “a little bit frustrated.”
RCMP escorted the passenger off of the plane at the Edmonton International Airport Thursday night. (Rick Bremness)
At some point, Beers said a man seated near the front of the plane called another passenger from the back of the plane to come to the front of the aircraft. They then spoke with the man and the pair appeared to get him to sit down.
Lewis said crew members followed standard operating procedure and asked authorities to meet the aircraft at the gate once it landed at Edmonton International Airport.
The passenger was then escorted off the plane by RCMP.
“The safety of our passengers and employees is always our number one priority and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards disruptive behaviour, which includes refusing to follow safety instructions and interfering with the ability of our crew members to complete their duties,” Lewis wrote.
He also said “at no point did the passenger attempt to open the door to the aircraft and did not need to be restrained.”
RCMP weren’t available to provide comment at the time of publishing.