American Airlines flight is diverted mid-air after passenger freaks out over neighbor's text message
The AA Flight 1847 to Dallas, Texas, was forced to abort and return to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday due to concern the flight was in immediate danger.
An unnamed female passenger became spooked when she oversaw her neighbor received a text that said 'Rip' 30 minutes into their journey.
She interpreted the message as threatening, causing staff to declare an emergency and divert back to the island, according to local news site Primera Hora.
Pilots told the tower they weren't 'sure what's going on' and declared the emergency simply because the flight was overweight, but were returning due to an unknown threat.
Pilots told the tower they were treating the threat as a 'level three,' meaning it could be life-threatening to passengers.
'We have a threat onboard,' the pilot said in audio obtained by Daily Mail. 'With text messaging between passengers and flight members, so we're going to need authorities at the gate to meet us just to figure out what's going on here.'
The tower asked if the cockpit was secure and the pilot confirmed, before reiterating: 'We just have a threat from out back, we're not even sure it's even credible at this point.
'But, you know, with the way things are this holiday weekend and everything else, we figured the best course is just to be safe as possible.'
Upon landing, the message was investigated by Aerostar, the security company at the Puerto Rican airport.
It was determined that the passenger had received the text about a relative who had died the day before. The passenger was traveling home from vacation early, Primera Hora said.
TSA also inspected the aircraft and did not find a threat.
Nelman Nevárez, Aerostar's director of operations, told the outlet: 'It was a mix-up that was handled in accordance with safety protocols. There was no real threat to the flight or its passengers.'
The plane took off for Dallas shortly after and landed in the States shortly before 2pm local time.
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