Dante Milne denies hijack threat after United flight returns to Las Vegas

Police charged Milne with making a threat or offering false information

Dante Milne told officers that the text he sent during a United flight was banter with a co-worker and denied intending to hijack the aircraft, crash it or harm anyone. The 25-year-old passenger was taken into custody after the flight returned to Las Vegas shortly after takeoff Saturday night, according to a police report. The aircraft had been headed to Newark, New Jersey.

A flight attendant told police she first noticed two passengers exchanging text messages during boarding. Those messages included derogatory remarks about other passengers and attendants. She later saw an incoming message that began with “I’m gonna hijack,” and notified the lead flight attendant, according to the report. Police later identified Milne as the sender.

Police said the full message included “I’m gonna hijack this” and “and crash ur row only.” An expletive replaced the word “plane” in the message, according to the police report.

Once the aircraft passed 10,000 feet (3,050 meters), the captain was notified, the report said. The report said notifying the captain at that point was “consistent with sterile flight deck procedures.” A recording posted on the ATC app captured the pilot telling an air traffic controller that a flight attendant had reported the text; the crew then proceeded back to Las Vegas.

Milne, a resident of Woodridge, New Jersey, said he was in Las Vegas for a three-day apprenticeship training program associated with his work as an underwater welder. He said he consumed beer and shots at an airport bar and intended to sleep during the flight. He said he was asleep on the aircraft when he woke and learned the flight was returning to Las Vegas.

Milne acknowledged exchanging texts with the other passenger, whom he had met at the training program. He initially said he could not recall the content. When questioned about the reported hijacking message, Milne characterized the wording as poorly stated and suggested the conversation involved banter between coworkers.

Milne was charged with making a threat or offering false information in reference to an act of terrorism. Attorney James Gallo said he was still evaluating his client’s case and that Milne plans to plead not guilty.

A number of passengers have been arrested over the years for joking about having a bomb, including a man who did so while checking his bag in Chicago in 2022. A Turkish Airlines flight was diverted a few years earlier after someone renamed a Wi-Fi hot spot “bomb on board” in 2017. 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. The airline industry has also long been sensitive to bombs and hijackers, which has made the subject a recurring theme in jokes in sitcoms and movies. The industry was likely on high alert less than a month after authorities said a FlyDubai co-pilot had attacked the captain with an axe and tried to crash the plane before passengers intervened.