Flight Diverted to Tampa International Airport for Disruptive Passenger

Delta Flight 0413 from Atlanta to Costa Rica was diverted Sunday evening to Tampa International Airport to remove a disruptive passenger.

The plane, which left Atlanta at 6:04 p.m. and was scheduled to land in San Jose, Costa Rica at 9:02 p.m., according to Delta’s website, was instead rerouted to Tampa where it landed shortly after 7:30 p.m.

Jamaica Plain Patch local editor Chris Helms was on the flight. Helms corresponded via e-mail, “We’ve landed in Tampa for a person to be taken from the plane.” Helms wrote that, according to a witness, the man was chastising a flight attendant and was warned they would land the plane if he didn’t calm down.

“Authorities met the flight upon arrival, and the passenger and his bags were removed,” confirmed Chris Kelly Singley, spokesperson for Delta Air Lines. Singley says that in the case of a disruptive passenger, landing the plane for passenger removal is entirely at the discretion of the crew.

The flight is scheduled to continue to Costa Rica leaving Tampa at 9:00 p.m.