A United Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles returned to Honolulu early Wednesday morning after what federal authorities described as a security issue.
In a statement, the FAA said United Airlines Flight 1169 was heading to LAX when it returned to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu around 1:35 a.m. local time on Wednesday. Details about the security issue were not immediately available.
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In a statement, United Airlines said the security matter on the Boeing 777 with 339 passengers involved a message on a lavatory mirror. Passengers were rebooked on a later flight.
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“United flight 1169 from Honolulu to Los Angeles returned safely to Honolulu after a potential security concern was found written on a lavatory mirror,” the airline said. “Law enforcement met the aircraft, and a security sweep was conducted. We are rebooking customers on another flight to Los Angeles that departs later this evening.”
The plane departed Honolulu at about 9:40 p.m. Tuesday and was scheduled to arrive at about 6 a.m. Wednesday in Los Angeles. The plane turned back about 90 minutes into the flight.
A passenger told the Hawaii News Now that passengers remained on the plane for about four hours once they landed in Honolulu. Details about the message were not immediately available from authorities, but passengers said it referenced a bomb.
“We had to go out one at a time and bomb dogs had to check every single bag that came out and every single person,” said Kouhei Massey. “I found out that through the airport manager that somebody had written on the wall on the bathroom mirror that there’s a bomb on the plane.”
The overnight turnaround for United Airlines Flight 1169 came hours after a person arrested Tuesday following reports of a possible bomb threat on a Hawaiian Airlines flight set to take off from San Diego International Airport. Security concerns led to the evacuation of the plane.
A 35-year-old man was charged with making a false bomb threat and false report of a security threat after he allegedly told a flight attendant that the person next to him had a bomb, according to the Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department.
