A passenger arrested after texting that he was going to "hijack" the plane he was riding told police the message was banter with a co-worker and denied any intent to hurt anyone, according to a police report.
The United flight, bound for Newark, New Jersey, was turned around and sent back to Las Vegas shortly after departing on Saturday night. A flight attendant had seen the text, and Dante Milne, 25, was taken into custody. He has been charged with making a threat or offering false information in reference to an act of terrorism. His attorney, James Gallo, told The Associated Press that he is still evaluating the case but that Milne plans to plead not guilty.
According to the report, the flight attendant first noticed two passengers trading text messages during boarding, including derogatory remarks about other passengers and crew. She later saw an incoming message that began with "I'm gonna hijack" and alerted the lead flight attendant. The sender was later identified as Milne. Police said the full message read "I'm gonna hijack this" plane, with an expletive in place of the word plane, "and crash ur row only."
The captain was told once the aircraft climbed past 10,000 feet (3,050 meters), which the report described as "consistent with sterile flight deck procedures." In a recording posted on the ATC app, the pilot tells an air traffic controller that a flight attendant had reported the text message and that the crew was returning to Las Vegas.
Milne, who lives in Woodridge, New Jersey, told officers he was in Las Vegas for a three-day apprenticeship training program tied to his work as an underwater welder, the arrest report said. He said he had beer and shots at an airport bar and planned to sleep during the flight. He told police he was asleep until he woke and learned the plane was heading back.
He acknowledged texting with another passenger he had met at the training program, but initially said he could not recall what the messages said. "When questioned about the reported hijacking message, Milne characterized the wording as poorly stated and suggested the conversation involved banter between coworkers," the report said. "Milne denied intending to hijack the aircraft, crash it, or harm anyone."
Passengers have been arrested many times over the years for joking about bombs. One man was arrested in 2022 for such a remark while checking his bag in Chicago. In 2017, a Turkish Airlines flight was diverted after someone renamed their Wi-Fi hot spot "bomb on board." Last summer, an Allegiant Air flight made an emergency landing after a 27-year-old man told another passenger his laptop was a bomb.
Such jokes can be a felony in most jurisdictions, and the airline industry has long been so sensitive about bombs and hijackers that the topic has become fodder for sitcoms and movies. The industry is likely on especially high alert now, less than a month after authorities said the co-pilot on a FlyDubai flight attacked the captain with an axe and tried to crash the plane before passengers intervened.
