A United Airlines flight had to turn around after a flight attendant reportedly saw a passenger texting that he was going to hijack the plane. A 25-year-old man has been arrested and charged, and police say he is out on bail.
United Flight 1681 left Las Vegas for Newark on Saturday night, October 24. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 had 150 passengers and six crew members on board, and it left the gate at about 10:37 p.m. Soon after takeoff, however the crew reported what United called a “potential security concern,” and the pilot turned the plane around.
Radio audio of the flight, posted online, captures a member of the cockpit crew explaining the turnaround to air traffic control. “The flight attendant saw him texting that he was going to hijack the aircraft,” the crew member said according to CBS. “They called me, we went into lockdown, and we returned to Vegas.”
The controller asked whether the passenger was under restraint. The crew member said no, because the man didn’t know anything was going on. The plane landed safely at about 11:05 p.m.
A man was arrested at the airport
Police met the plane and detained a 25-year-old man without incident. Las Vegas police later identified him as Dante Milne. He was charged with making a threat or providing false information about an act of terrorism, which carries up to 20 years in prison.
He posted $10,000 bail and was released and is due in court on October 27. According to the criminal complaint, he allegedly wrote that he was going to “hijack” the plane and “crash ur row only.”
It doesn’t say how the message was sent or who received it and the allegations haven’t been proven in court.
Everyone got off the plane, and it was inspected. The crew had run out of legal working hours, so the flight was delayed overnight. A replacement flight left on Sunday morning. United only said that the flight “safely returned to Las Vegas to address a potential security concern.” The FAA is investigating. It said there have been more than 1,400 unruly passenger incidents so far in 2026.
Another flight turned back two days earlier
On Thursday, October 22, an American Airlines flight from Miami to Georgetown, Guyana, also had returned to where it departed from about 40 minutes after takeoff.
A passenger had gotten into a dispute with a flight attendant, and the pilot told air traffic control that the man “rushed” the flight attendants at the back of the plane. A crew member said he told one of them, “I will take care of you when we land in Guyana.”
Sheriff’s deputies who met the plane when it landed said it was a verbal dispute and that no one was assaulted. The man left without incident and was rebooked, and the flight reached Georgetown more than four hours late. According to People, the FAA says it takes enforcement action against passengers who threaten or interfere with crew, with civil penalties of up to $43,658 per violation.
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