A United Airlines flight bound for Spain from Newark Liberty International Airport turned around midflight on Saturday due to a possible security threat linked to a Bluetooth device name.
Incident Details
The flight departed around 6 p.m. for Palma de Mallorca, Spain, but landed back at Newark at 9:37 p.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The airline reported that there were 190 passengers and 12 crew members on board the Boeing 767 aircraft.
According to air traffic control audio, security personnel inspected the aircraft after someone named their Bluetooth device with a certain four-letter word. A passenger posting on social media stated that crew members repeatedly asked passengers to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two devices remained on. The flight turned around after communicating with the airline's headquarters in Chicago.
Security Response
Passengers were evacuated as the aircraft was swept by Port Authority police. All passengers were rescreened by TSA and Customs and Border Patrol before reboarding. The airline declined to provide specifics on the cause of the incident.
Passengers boarded a replacement flight with a new crew, which took off early Sunday morning and landed in Palma in the afternoon.
Recent United Incidents
This was the latest incident with a United Airlines flight this month. On Friday, a domestic flight was diverted because of a security concern with an unruly passenger. Earlier this month, a United flight landing at Newark airport struck a semitrailer truck and a light pole, though no one was injured.
