A United Airlines flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, was forced to turn around mid-flight on Saturday evening due to a potential security threat. The Boeing 767, carrying 190 passengers and 12 crew members, departed at around 6pm but landed back at Newark at 9.37pm.
According to air traffic control audio, the incident was triggered by a passenger who named their Bluetooth device with a 'certain four-letter word'. Crew members repeatedly asked passengers to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two remained active. The flight turned back after consulting with the airline's headquarters in Chicago.
Upon landing, passengers evacuated the aircraft as Port Authority police conducted a sweep. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers re-screened all passengers before they boarded a replacement flight with a new crew, which departed early Sunday morning and arrived in Palma later that day.
The airline declined to provide specific details about the cause of the diversion. This incident marks at least the third major aviation episode involving a United Airlines flight in four weeks, following a cockpit breach attempt on Friday and a collision with a light pole and truck on 3 May.
