A United Airlines flight headed to Los Angeles from Hawaii was diverted Tuesday after a “potential security concern” was found in the plane bathroom, according to the airline.
United Airlines 1169 departed from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu around 9:40 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time. But about an hour and a half after taking off, the plane turned back to the Honolulu airport, according to flight tracking data from FlightAware.
Police searched the Boeing 777 plane, which had about 339 passengers and 10 crewmembers, after the aircraft landed, according to an airline spokesperson. The representative declined to say what, if anything, was discovered on the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A traveler told Hawaii News Now that they waited about four hours on the tarmac after the plane returned to Hawaii while law enforcement and dogs screened each passenger.
“Later I found out through the airport security manager that someone had written on the bathroom mirror that there was a bomb on the plane,” passenger Kouhei Massey told the outlet.
A United Airlines spokesperson told The Times that the airline is “rebooking customers on another flight to Los Angeles that departs later this evening.”
