Passenger Sues Pan Am in Fight Over Luggage, Bomb Threat

A British computer executive has sued Pan American World Airways, claiming he was detained for a phony bomb threat after the airline botched his family’s plans to fly home.

Alan Neilson, a 32-year-old salesman, claims in the suit filed last week that his pregnant wife, Heidi, and their two children, Sabrina, 3, and Andrew, 2, were stranded at Miami International Airport last March with just $30 when Neilson was taken to jail.

The suit alleges a Pan Am agent had given away the Neilsons’ seats but their baggage remained on Pan Am Flight 98 bound for London. As departure time neared, the agent, identified as L. Seabourne, refused to let the Neilsons on the plane or the baggage off.

“How can you let this happen?” an angry Neilson demanded. “What if there was a bomb in the luggage? It is against international regulations to allow luggage to take off on board a plane without its passengers.”

Pan Am, whose Flight 103 was blown up over Scotland by a terrorist bomb in 1988, immediately called federal agents, who decided it wasn’t a real bomb threat, according to the suit filed in Dade County Circuit Court.

Pan Am then called Metro-Dade County police, who arrested Neilson.