NEW YORK, May 31 (Xinhua) -- A United Airlines (UA) flight bound for Spain from Newark Liberty International Airport turned back midflight on Saturday after a passenger's threatening Bluetooth device name triggered a security alert, local media reported Sunday.
According to flight-tracking data, the Boeing 767 departed at around 6 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) for Palma de Mallorca, Spain, but reversed course and landed back at Newark at 8:50 p.m. (0050 GMT Sunday) after nearly three hours in the air.
A passenger posting on social media said crew members repeatedly asked travelers to turn off all Bluetooth-enabled devices, but two devices remained active. Security personnel later inspected the aircraft after discovering a Bluetooth device named with a threatening four-letter word. Aviation news outlet AirLive later identified the word as "BOMB."
The flight returned to Newark after the crew consulted with the airline's operations center in Chicago. There were 190 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
Passengers were evacuated carrying only their passports and mobile phones. They were subsequently rescreened by the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection before boarding a replacement aircraft operated by a new crew.
United Airlines declined to provide details about the cause of the incident.
The event is the latest in a series of security-related incidents involving United Airlines flights this month. On Friday, a domestic United flight was diverted due to security concerns involving an unruly passenger. Earlier in May, a passenger's Wi-Fi hotspot name prompted a United pilot to warn the cabin that the person responsible had 30 seconds to change it or face questioning by the Federal Bureau of Investigation upon landing.
