- A United Airlines flight was diverted after a passenger was upset his choice meal wasn't available.
- The flight was bound for Amsterdam and had to be diverted to Chicago to offload the passenger.
A United Airlines flight to Amsterdam was forced to divert to Chicago after a passenger who was upset about his meal choice disrupted the flight.
The passenger, who was seated in business class, was upset the in-flight meal he wanted wasn't available, according to The Guardian.
The flight took off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday and landed in Chicago's O'Hare Airport just two hours later, the report said. Photos posted on Twitter by Flightradar24 showed the United plane circling the airport and dumping fuel so it could land.
—Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 10, 2023
Flightradar24's post said the flight was diverted to Chicago because of "an unruly passenger." Later that day, another Twitter user, XJonNYC, posted a photo of United's internal communications showing a "threat level 1" on board. The Federal Aviation Administration defines this as the lowest threat level on a flight, which constitutes "disruptive behavior" that's "suspicious or threatening."
In the following posts, XJonNYC said the passenger was "livid over the fact his 1st choice of meal was not available" and that the passenger was seated in business class and was said to have also been intoxicated.
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 10, 2023
Another photo posted by XJonNYC showed the United flight being ordered to remove the passenger from the plane at O'Hare Airport, fill up gas, and continue its flight to Amsterdam.
United confirmed this to Insider in a statement, writing: "United flight 20 from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Amsterdam diverted to O'Hare International Airport and landed safely following a passenger disturbance. Law enforcement met the aircraft at the gate and escorted the passenger off the plane. The aircraft then continued to Amsterdam."
ABC Chicago reported that the plane landed in Amsterdam on Monday.
Flight diversions aren't uncommon. In November, a Jet2 flight to Manchester diverted to Bilbao, Spain, so passengers could use the bathroom as lavatories on board were out of order.
That same month, a Frontier Airlines flight was diverted to Atlanta after a passenger threatened other people with a box cutter. The flight was bound for Tampa.