Dante Milne, 25, posted a $10,000 bond and was released from custody ahead of a scheduled court appearance on Tuesday.
The Las Vegas man was arrested Saturday night after a United Airlines flight attendant spotted him typing threatening messages about hijacking a Boeing 737 bound for Newark, New Jersey. The crew member followed security protocol and immediately alerted the cockpit rather than confronting Milne directly.
“The flight attendant saw him texting that he was going to hijack the aircraft. They called me. We went into lockdown, and we returned to Vegas,” the captain told air traffic controllers.
The pilot was not asked to identify himself in the audio recordings, but his exchanges with controllers captured the moment the flight deck reversed course. When controllers asked whether cabin crew had restrained the suspect, the pilot said Milne had not been restrained because he was unaware crew members had seen the messages at all.
United Flight 1681 had departed Harry Reid International Airport with 150 passengers and six crew members. Flight-tracking data shows it was airborne for less than an hour before touching down safely back in Las Vegas at approximately 11:05 p.m. Local time.
Officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department met the aircraft on the tarmac and detained Milne without incident. All passengers were evacuated while law enforcement conducted a comprehensive security inspection of the plane. No injuries were reported.
According to a criminal complaint, Milne wrote that he was “gonna hijack this” plane—using an expletive in the message—and added that he would “crash ur row only.” The complaint does not specify how the message was transmitted or who was intended to receive it.
The diversion forced the remaining 149 passengers to stay in Las Vegas overnight. Because the flight crew had exceeded their federally mandated operating hours, the travelers could not continue until a rescheduled departure to Newark on Sunday morning.
Milne was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on felony charges of making threats or conveying false information regarding an act of terrorism. Under Nevada statute, that charge carries a potential prison term of one to 20 years.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed an investigation into the incident is underway. The agency reported it has tracked more than 1,400 unruly passenger incidents across commercial flights in 2026.
Milne is expected to appear in court in Las Vegas.