Flyer who sparked hijack alert claims text was banter as he fights charges

A United flight bound for Newark, New Jersey, turned back to Las Vegas shortly after takeoff on Saturday night after a flight attendant spotted a text message sent by one of the passengers on board.

Dante Milne, 25, was taken into custody when the aircraft returned.

He is charged with making a threat or offering false information in reference to an act of terrorism.

His attorney, James Gallo, told The Associated Press that he was still evaluating his client's case, but Milne plans to plead not guilty.

According to a police report, Milne told officers the message was banter with a co-worker and denied intending to harm anyone.

The flight attendant told Las Vegas police she had first noticed two passengers exchanging text messages during boarding that included derogatory remarks about other passengers and attendants.

She later saw an incoming message that began with “I'm gonna hijack,” and she notified the lead flight attendant, according to the police report.

The report said the sender was later identified as Milne.

Police said the full message read: “I’m gonna hijack this” plane — although he used an expletive instead of plane — “and crash ur row only.”

Once the aircraft passed 10,000 feet (3,050 meters), the captain was notified, the report said, noting that was “consistent with sterile flight deck procedures.”

A recording posted on the ATC app captures the pilot telling an air traffic controller that a flight attendant reported the text message, so they returned to Las Vegas.

Milne, a resident of Woodridge, New Jersey, told officers he was in Las Vegas for a three-day apprenticeship training program associated with his work as an underwater welder, according to the arrest report.

He said he consumed beer and shots at an airport bar and intended to sleep during the flight, the report said.

He said he was asleep on the flight when he woke up and learned the flight was returning back to Las Vegas, the report said.

Milne acknowledged exchanging texts with the other passenger, who he'd met at the training program, but initially said he couldn't recall the content, the police report said.

“When questioned about the reported hijacking message, Milne characterized the wording as poorly stated and suggested the conversation involved banter between coworkers,” the report said. “Milne denied intending to hijack the aircraft, crash it, or harm anyone.”

A number of passengers have been arrested over the years for joking about having a bomb, like a man did while checking his bag in Chicago in 2022.

A few years earlier, a Turkish Airlines flight was diverted after someone renamed their Wi-Fi hotspot “bomb on board” in 2017, and just last summer an Allegiant Air flight made an emergency landing after a 27-year-old man told another passenger his laptop was a bomb.

Making that kind of joke can be a felony in most jurisdictions, but the airline industry has long been so sensitive about the subject of bombs or hijackers that it has been the subject of jokes in sitcoms and movies.

The industry is likely on high alert right now, less than a month after authorities said the co-pilot on a FlyDubai flight attacked the captain with an axe and tried to crash the plane before passengers intervened.