A United Airlines flight bound for Spain turned around midflight Saturday after a possible security threat prompted an inspection tied to a Bluetooth device name. The Boeing 767 landed back at Newark Liberty International Airport at 9:37 p.m. after departing around 6 p.m. for Palma de Mallorca.
The flight carried 190 passengers and 12 crew members, and passengers were later escorted off the plane and onto a bus on the tarmac. Port Authority police swept the aircraft, then TSA and Customs and Border Patrol re-screened travelers before they reboarded a replacement flight with a new crew that took off early Sunday morning and reached Palma in the afternoon.
The air traffic control audio said security came to inspect the aircraft after someone named a Bluetooth device a four-letter word, and the tower said the whole plane, including the cargo area, had to be checked. A passenger on social media said crew members repeatedly asked people to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two remained on, and the flight turned back after talks with United’s headquarters in Chicago.
United declined to give specifics on what caused the incident, even as the FAA said Flight 236 returned to Newark Liberty International Airport after the crew reported a passenger disturbance. That same agency said airlines have reported more than 640 unruly passenger incidents so far in 2026, underscoring how quickly a routine transatlantic departure can turn into an airport-wide response.
The episode comes after another United flight landing at Newark struck a semitrailer truck and a light pole earlier this month without injuring anyone. For passengers on Saturday’s flight, the immediate question was not what happened in the air but how quickly they would get out of Newark and back on their way to Spain. The answer was before dawn on a new plane, with a new crew, after a full inspection closed the gap left by the unexplained Bluetooth name.
