Hoax hassles PAL flight to SFO

SAN FRANCISCO, California—Police at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Wednesday said they were going through the cargo of a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Manila that arrived on Tuesday night after a phoned threat was made to a PAL office.

Police Sgt. Michael Rodriguez said the plane was taken to a remote part of the airport when it landed on Tuesday night. The 337 passengers and 20 crew members were taken off the plane as authorities inspected the cargo.

He said the threat made to an airline cargo office was “unsubstantiated.”

In Manila, PAL said in a statement that the plane was cleared to leave San Francisco later Wednesday after a search by police came up negative for an explosive device.

“PR 105 with 303 passengers is set to leave San Francisco at 2 a.m. March 23, local time (5 p.m. Manila time) after a delay of more than three hours due to a phoned-in bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax,” the airline said.

PAL’s cargo warehouse in the Bay Area had received an anonymous phone call claiming there was a bomb on the PAL plane.

“PAL apologizes for the delay and inconvenience. But the safety and security of our passengers are paramount, hence we gave our full cooperation to the investigators,” said PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna.

The airline said heightened security checks were now commonplace in the United States because of the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East.

The checks were also because of the Philippines’ Category 2 safety rating, meaning it is seen to lack necessary regulations to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, PAL said.

The government has been moving to have the country upgraded back to Category 1, which would allow PAL, the only Philippine carrier to fly to the US, to expand its services there. With DJ Yap