SAN FRANCISCO (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A United Flight bound for Boston was delayed nearly six hours and each passenger was individually searched. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was on board that plane.
United Airlines Flight 1108 was supposed to take off from San Francisco at 8:32 a.m. and everyone was on the plane, preparing for takeoff. The aircraft was on the runway when the pilot announced they were returning to the gate for “operational difficulties."
A FOX25 employee's family member was aboard the plane and told FOX25 that the plane returned to the gate and they kept everyone on board for about 45 minutes. Then passengers were taken off five at a time to be checked. Every person was individually searched and some were cotton swabbed.
Gov. Christie was on the plane, heading to an event in New Hampshire. Spokesperson Maria Comella said that a passenger was removed from the plane before takeoff at the request of United Airlines, but Gov. Christie never interacted with him.
FOX25 later learned that a male passenger was attempting to take photos of female flight crew members and someone from Christie's staff noticed and said something.
"I'm proud of the fact that, you know, folks on my staff observed it and let the flight crew know, so all the credit goes to them, not to me," Christie said.
Going on 2.5 hours sitting on runway on @United 1108 at SFO for "operational issue"
— Joe Kinsella (@joekinsella) November 20, 2015
The plane landed safely at Logan Airport around 10 p.m. Friday night.
Gov. Chris Christie: I'm glad someone on my staff was alert and notified about the passenger in question. @fox25news pic.twitter.com/ZxiNzWTwLn
— Kathryn Burcham (@KathrynBFOX25) November 21, 2015
Cox Media Group