A United Airlines flight to Spain returned to Newark on Saturday and made an emergency landing there, with passengers reporting on Reddit that it turned back after cabin crew told everyone aboard to disable Bluetooth on their devices. Though the report is unverified, flight data confirms that Flight 236 declared a general emergency, reversed course and returned to the airport.
By late evening the plane had landed safely and deboarded the passengers, to whom United apologized in a text message: “We’re sorry for returning to Newark. Our team needs to address an urgent customer situation on board, and we’ll keep you updated as we receive more information. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
The initial post, by user ryan_at_roomservice in the r/unitedairlines forum, drew more than 1,900 upvotes within hours.
By their account, about an hour into the Newark-to-Palma de Mallorca flight, a flight attendant announced over the tannoy that everyone had to turn off Bluetooth or the plane would return, citing an order from United’s Chicago headquarters. The warning was repeated, the user wrote, including a one-minute ultimatum and word that two devices were still active. A later announcement said an individual had done something with Bluetooth that threatened the flight’s safety, and that agents would meet the plane to identify the device. A second self-identified passenger, mannstermana, described emergency lights on both sides of the aircraft, stairs rolled to the tarmac in place of a gate, and a crew member calling the situation hard to believe.
In an update, ryan_at_roomservice wrote that passengers were told to leave devices and belongings on board—and that they were issued a $15 meal credit.
Electronic gadgets and aircraft radios have an adversarial history. The FCC barred in-flight cellphone calls in 1991, citing interference with ground networks, and for about half a century passengers were told to power down electronics for takeoff and landing. In 2013, an FAA advisory committee found that most airliners tolerate radio interference from personal devices, and the agency cleared gate-to-gate use in airplane mode. Crews may still order devices off under certain conditions, but the anticipated scenario is interference, not a mystery Bluetooth threat. Bluetooth is low-power and short-range, typically used for wireless headphones, mice, keyboard and other peripherals, so it being tied to a security response has no quickly-googlable precedent.
Everyone is calm. We’re just tired and pissed off, but hopefully safe! The flight attendant’s words “if someone told me this story I wouldn’t believe them. “I’m sure it’s something innocent but we take safety seriously”
Ironically, United banned passengers from using devices without headphones just days ago, adding listening to video or audio without them as an explicit violation of its policies. Bluetooth is the most common technology used by wireless headphones, though the policy change was directed at uncommon in-flight pests and it seems unlikely to have resulted in a substantial increase or change in Bluetooth use.
