Hijack scare unfolds on United flight over suspicious text message. Here is what happened

A hijack scare forced a United Airlines flight from Las Vegas to New York to return to its point of origin on Saturday. Shortly after a takeoff, someone on the plane, apparently an attendant as per some reports, saw a passenger texting about hijacking the plane. The person alerted the crew, and the cockpit was locked down. The plane then took a U-turn. According to air traffic control recordings, the passenger was not made aware of what was happening. He was taken away by law enforcement authorities after the flight landed.

United Airlines flight 1681 was flying from Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to the airline's base at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) on October 24. It took off at 10:51 pm. After it reached a height of 24,000 feet, the attendant spotted the suspicious message and alerted the captain.

Crew kept the entire scare under wraps during the return flight

ATC recordings shared by RobV on X show that the crew remained quiet about what was going on. "The passenger doesn’t know anything is going on. The flight attendant saw him texting that he was going to hijack the aircraft," the pilot told ATC. The cockpit was locked down to prevent a scenario where the person approached that portion of the plane. The plane turned back over the Arizona ghost town of Oak Grove.

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It declared a general emergency, squawking 7700, which allowed it to receive priority landing in Vegas. But there was one more problem. Since the plane had 11,249 kg of fuel for the flight to Newark, it had to somehow burn a chunk of it before it could land. Boeing 737 MAX 8 cannot dump fuel, so it made a slow return to Vegas and ended up making an overweight landing. It also asked for the full length of Runway 26L.

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What passengers on the plane said

Passengers weren't made aware of what was going on at any point in time. Some of them said they were told that a person wasn't supposed to be on that plane. Others said there was someone without a ticket. One passenger shared that only three people were removed from the flight and were put in handcuffs when they were deplaning. "By the time they finished deplaning, they had released two of the individuals and walked the other individual away in handcuffs."