No prayers in the air

By AP NEW YORK (AP) - An Orthodox Jewish passenger who left his seat to pray in the back of a plane and ignored flight attendants' orders to return was removed by an airport security guard before the plane took off, a witness and the airline said.

The man stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines flight to San Francisco was being boarded at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, fellow passenger Ori Brafman said.

When flight attendants urged the man, who was carrying a religious book, to take his seat, he ignored them, Brafman said. Two friends tried to tell the attendants that the man could not stop until his prayers were over in about 2 minutes, he said.

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

The attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.

The plane took off without the man. It landed at its destination as scheduled, Brafman said by telephone from his home there.

Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United Airlines, a subsidiary of UAL Corp. with headquarters in Chicago, confirmed the man was taken off the plane and put on another flight Thursday morning.

Urbanksi said flights cannot depart if all passengers are not in their seats, which risks a delay, and it is important that passengers listen to the instructions of the flight crew.

I saw this news report. What do you think? I know the plane has a schedule to keep. Do you think something different could have been done to prevent this? I'm thinking maybe the man should have waiting to get to his seat and then said his prayers?