United Flight 1681 update: Airline confirms ‘potential security concern' prompted return

A United Airlines flight bound for Newark, New Jersey, had to make an emergency turnaround at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Saturday night because of a passenger disturbance, which the airline called a "security concern."

United Airlines Flight 1681, a Boeing 737 with 150 passengers and six crew members, took off from Las Vegas at about 10:37 p.m. on Saturday. As per reports by FlightAware, the plane was past the Arizona border when it made a turnaround back to Las Vegas, where it landed safely at about 11:42 p.m. There were no reports of injury.

"In light of a security concern that arose, the pilots and crew safely returned the aircraft to Las Vegas," according to a statement from United Airlines. "The aircraft was delayed overnight due to crew timeout and departed for Newark on Sunday morning and arrived in Newark Liberty International Airport at about 3:06 p.m. EDT."

A spokeswoman for the Harry Reid Airport confirmed that the flight had to turn back due to the passenger disturbance. FAA stated in an initial report that the flight returned to Las Vegas safely.

Whether or not any arrests were made regarding this matter still has yet to be revealed. Attempts to contact the LVMPD and FBI in order to get comments regarding this issue have been unsuccessful so far on Sunday. The media has tried contacting the LVMPD for any other details on this matter.

This incident resulted in the disruption of over 150 passengers’ travel plans, although the airline said that the flight eventually arrived in Newark. More details about the nature of the incident and the passenger who was responsible have not been released by the authorities so far.