Video taking off 14x its usual first day

Passenger charged after reported hijacking text turns United flight back

CBS Chicago's report adds an arrest and bond release to the pilot's account of a cockpit lockdown and safe return to Las Vegas.

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CBS Chicago Story of October 27, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 37,893 views a day, 14 times a normal first day on this channel (2,654).

United passenger arrested for hijacking threat on Las Vegas-Newark flight

"The passenger does not know anything is going on," the pilot tells air traffic control in audio carried by CBS Chicago. Inside the cockpit, the crew had already responded to what a flight attendant reported seeing on a passenger's phone.

The United Airlines flight was traveling from Las Vegas to Newark on Saturday when the attendant spotted what appeared to be a reference to hijacking. According to the pilot's recorded account, the crew locked down the cockpit and turned back without confronting the passenger, who remained compliant and unaware of the response.

The aircraft landed safely. CBS Chicago reports that police arrested the passenger on a charge of making a false terrorism threat and that he was subsequently released on bond. The charge is an accusation, not a finding of guilt.

The station's brief report drew about 15,000 views in its first six hours, an unusually fast start for its Shorts. A flight-tracking animation supplies the final part of the journey: an overnight delay before the aircraft reached Newark on Sunday.

Published on Trari