Foreign minister quizzed over plane incident

Argentina’s foreign minister was detained and questioned at Miami International Airport after he allegedly requested permission to enter the cockpit of a plane to question pilots about why the flight was delayed.

Rafael Bielsa was aboard an American Airlines flight from New York’s John F Kennedy Airport to Miami on Friday night, a trip that began four hours behind schedule because of weather and mechanical-related delays.

Bielsa allegedly got out of his first-class seat while the plane was taxiing and asked to talk to the pilots about the delay. A flight attendant asked Bielsa to sit down, and he allegedly refused, said Dave Adams, a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service.

Bielsa was questioned at the gate once the flight reached Miami. Adams said the process took no more than 10 minutes; Gregorio Dupont, Argentina’s consul general in Miami, said Bielsa was questioned for 45 minutes and treated rudely.

Dupont also disputed the claim Bielsa rose from his seat while the plane taxied at Kennedy Airport.

He said Bielsa stood up before the plane left to inquire about taking another flight, and while he also said Bielsa wanted to ask pilots about the delay, he said the foreign minister never tried to enter the cockpit.

“We regret any unnecessary inconvenience that the foreign minister and his party may have experienced,” said State Department spokesman Steven Pike.