A United Airlines flight headed for Chicago made an unexpected emergency landing in St. Louis on Sunday morning after a passenger allegedly claimed his wife had a bomb in her luggage.
United Flight 380 departed from Dallas and was en route to O’Hare International Airport when the pilot diverted to St. Louis Lambert International Airport, touching down at approximately 8:39 a.m. local time, according to reports from KSDK and the New York Post.
Authorities said the man — who has since been arrested — made a statement indicating that a bomb was inside one of his wife’s bags. All passengers were asked to deplane while law enforcement searched the Boeing 737-700, which had 119 travelers and five crew members on board.
United Airlines reported that the plane was thoroughly inspected before being cleared to proceed to Chicago. Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in as part of the investigation, per KSDK.
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“United flight 380 from Dallas to Chicago landed safely in St. Louis to address a potential security concern,” the airline said in a statement. “Law enforcement searched and cleared the aircraft. The flight took off from St. Louis earlier this afternoon and has since landed in Chicago.”
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that the FBI responded and is handling the investigation. The agency has not released additional details.
Flight tracking data from FlightAware showed the flight was delayed more than five hours, eventually arriving in Chicago at 2:50 p.m.
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This incident follows several recent bomb-threat scares aboard commercial flights. In September, a woman was arrested after allegedly claiming there was an explosive device on a Frontier Airlines flight traveling from Nashville to Denver. “Law enforcement support was requested, and the passenger was subsequently deplaned,” a spokesperson for the airline said at the time.
In another case in July, deputies in Pinellas County, Fla., responded to an alleged mid-air bomb claim after a passenger told someone his laptop was a bomb during Allegiant Flight 1023 to Roanoke, Va. The plane diverted to St. Pete-Clearwater Airport, where officials found no explosive device.
