We should all know by now never to say “the b-word” on the plane, but it seems nobody told a certain man – a legislator, no less – as his inappropriate joke led to a lengthy flight delay.
It was reported that the man, Agus Pranoto, a legislator at the Polewali Mandar Regency Local Council in West Sulawesi, was already on the Batik Air plane scheduled to fly from Jakarta to Makassar at 11am yesterday.
When a flight attendant inquired about the contents of a plastic bag that Agus’ friend, Hasan, was carrying, Agus decided that the appropriate response was to joke that the bag contained a bomb.
Obviously, the flight crew temporarily cancelled the flight and ordered everyone to get off the plane. Once at the terminal, all the passengers were subjected to further security checks and Agus himself was interrogated by Airport Security.
“He (Agus) was just joking around. Call it joking with an air hostess. But this joke became a nuisance,” said Polewaly Mandar Regency Local Council Deputy Chairman, Amiruddin, when Okezone asked about the incident yesterday.
Amiruddin added that Agus cooperated well during the interrogation and that there were no charges filed against him.
The flight finally took off at 3pm, with Agus on board. Without jumping to conclusions, it definitely seems strange that Agus wasn’t criminally charged for his actions.
Just FYI, joking about a bomb on a flight is actually punishable by law and a prison sentence of up to one year.
We hope no taxpayers’ money was used to keep Agus out of trouble…
