United Airlines Flight 1169 was supposed to arrive in Los Angeles after departing from Hawaii. However, mid-flight, a concerning message was found on one of the plane’s bathroom mirrors. This prompted Flight 1169 to return to Hawaii, followed by an hours-long inspection.
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According to Fox News Digital, Flight 1169 departed from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu at around 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20. While it was supposed to land at Los Angeles International Airport in more than five hours, FlightAware revealed that all changed one hour and a half into the flight.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) statement shared with media outlets, including PEOPLE, confirmed that United Flight 1169, which carried 339 passengers and 10 crew members, returned to Honolulu due to a “security issue.”
That security issue was later revealed to be a message written in one of the plane’s bathroom mirrors. This was confirmed via a United Airlines statement shared with media outlets.
“United Flight 1169 from Honolulu to Los Angeles returned safely to Honolulu after a potential security concern was found written on a lavatory mirror,” United said. “Law enforcement met the aircraft, and a security sweep was conducted. We rebooked customers on another flight to Los Angeles that departed later that evening.”
‘That Would Have Been Really Bad’
The content of the message written on the lavatory mirror remains a mystery. However, several passengers recalled the moments after they were left stranded on the tarmac upon returning to Honolulu.
According to United passenger Kouhei Massey, the more than 300 passengers had to wait for approximately 4 hours for bomb experts and dogs to screen the plane and each passenger individually, as reported by Hawaii News Now.
“Later I found out through the airport security manager that someone had written on the bathroom mirror that there was a bomb on the plane,” Massey told the outlet.
Similarly, United passenger Christi Wright only found out about the security issue after she and everyone else were evacuated.
“It’s a good thing we didn’t know that on the plane. That would have been really bad,” Wright said.
It is unknown if a suspect was arrested following the incident. The FBI in Honolulu is currently investigating the security issue on Flight 1169.