Featured Image Credit: Instagram / United Airlines
In a year that's seen multiple plane crashes, aviation incidents, and an alarming loss of life, it's probably not a good time to joke about security.
Then again, is it ever the right time to joke about aviation security?
2025 has seen an uptick in emergency landings for several reasons, with the likes of American Airlines flight 1006 forcing passengers and crew to evacuate onto its wings as it caught fire, or what about Delta Connection Flight 4819 landing upside down at Toronto Pearson International Airport?
Elsewhere, planes have been diverted due to pilots forgetting their passports and passengers eating theirs. In another bizarre story from the world of plane news, a United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing due to an alarming claim made by one passenger about his wife's luggage.
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Reminding us of when a Florida man forced a plane to land when he claimed his laptop was wired to explode, the New York Post has reported on how United Flight 380 from Dallas to Chicago made an unexpected stop in St. Louis due to a security concern.
Seeing how deadly bombs on planes can be, it's no surprise that authorities take any mention of the B-word extremely seriously.
A spokesperson for the airline confirmed the incident after reports claimed a male passenger said there was a bomb in his wife's luggage. The flight was forced into an 8:40 a.m. landing at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, with sources telling the St. Louis Post-Dispatch how the unnamed man was arrested upon arrival.
Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge told the outlet how all 119 passengers were evacuated and made to wait on the concourse, while bomb and arson teams were soon dispatched onto the Boeing 737-700.
Even two hours later, they were said to still be searching the plane. United clarified that law enforcement searched and cleared the aircraft. There are no further details on why the man made the claim and whether there was any legitimacy to it, but assuming it was a joke, he could face some serious consequences.
The flight took off from St. Louis later that day and eventually made it to its original destination of Chicago.
As the post reminds us, this incident comes in the aftermath of a November 4 situation where a caller alleged that United Flight 512 would explode when it landed at Virginia’s Reagan Washington National Airport unless they were given $500,000 in cryptocurrency. It must've been a bad day to fly, as later on November 4, a Minneapolis-bound Delta flight was evacuated at LaGuardia airport when the crew reported a potential bomb threat.
