Bathroom Mirror 'Bomb Threat' Prompts Emergency Landing

Image: United Airlines airplane in flight. (Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/hectorchristiaen)

by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 11:35 AM ET, Fri May 23, 2025

A United Airlines flight traveling from Honolulu to Los Angeles was forced to return to Hawaii after a threatening message was discovered on the plane's lavatory mirror Wednesday.

The incident, which occurred ahead of the busy Memorial Day weekend travel period, prompted an emergency landing back at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and a tedious hours-long bomb screening on the tarmac.

"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," United passenger Kouhei Massey told Hawaii News Now.

The plane was carrying 339 passengers and 10 crew members at the time. Passengers were later rebooked on a new flight.

Shockingly, Wednesday's incident came just one day after a man was arrested for making a bomb threat on a Honolulu-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight from San Diego.

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Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher