By Dianne de Guzman, SFGATE, SF Gate
A Los Angeles-bound flight leaving from San Francisco made an emergency landing at the Mineta San Jose International Airport, after a passenger was allegedly caught smoking in the aircraft, airline officials said.
Pilots on Southwest Airlines Flight 1250 landed the Boeing 737 plane about 4:10 p.m., "diverting to San Jose following indications a customer was allegedly smoking in the lavatory," a Southwest representative said in a statement to SFGATE.
"The flight landed without incident where it was met by local law enforcement, and the customer in question was turned over to local authorities," the Southwest statement continued.
"The flight did land safely and was able to taxi to the gate under its own power," confirmed airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes to SFGATE. "Our on-airport fire department terminated the incident at 4:12 p.m."
As of 6 p.m., Barnes said the Southwest flight was still grounded and had yet to head to its final destination. Southwest said it was working on flying the remaining 32 customers to Los Angeles.
No injuries were reported.
Other flights at Mineta were not impacted by the emergency landing, and continue to depart on schedule, Barnes added.
