The r/unitedairlines subreddit is a special place for sensitive air travelers. It’s typically home to posts like “Where did the Stroopwaffel go???” (referring to one of United’s snack handouts) and constant complaints of “passengers of size” with avoirdupois overflowing across armrests. But for the last 24 hours, the subreddit was riveted by the tale of flight UA 236, a transatlantic trip that was turned around mid-air because of a Bluetooth emergency.
I first caught wind of the drama mid-day Saturday via the post “UA flight – ‘turn bluetooth off or we’re turning around‘.” Redditor u/ryan_at_roomservice and multiple others shared blow-by-blow accounts of how the captain repeatedly warned passengers to turn off their Bluetooth devices, or damnit, I’m turning this station wagon around.
UA 236 was flying from Newark, NJ to Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Reports later shared that a teenager on board had named his Bluetooth speaker “bomb,” and after repeated crew warnings to turn off all devices, the flight was turned around over the Atlantic. UA 236 eventually found its way back to Newark, and according to Redditors, the speaker owner was taken into custody. A Redditor’s photo of the grounded plane sits atop this article.
Writing of the Bluetooth speaker’s owner, u/bodyshoptrader posted: “He just confessed to it. He said he named it forever ago and forgot about it. He’s 16 years old. Wife’s friend is sitting next to him as they are questioning him.”
And here’s the extraordinary thing: It appears no fewer than nine Redditors were on flight UA 236, and posting their real-time accounts of the drama.
The tale of flight UA 236 has been a wild ride, and connects to technology on so many modern, of-the-moment levels. First, most obviously, it’s a Bluetooth story. In 2013, the FAA approved the use of Bluetooth devices in all phases of flights, and ever since, we’ve been tethered to our devices for all manner of inflight entertainment. United Airlines has not yet released a report on the incident, but I’ll update this article if and when it does.
Second, it’s a Reddit story. In February, Reddit reported its daily active users had increased 19% year-over-year to 121 million. If you use Google, you know just how dramatically Reddit influences search and AI results. And if you engage in social media at all, you know just how effectively Reddit drives the larger public conversation.
With 29,000-plus upvotes and more than 6,300 comments, the original thread by u/ryan_at_roomservice qualifies as a legit internet phenomenon, and even spurred what we might call an “overflow room” in “UA 236 “The Bluetooth Flight” (21,000 upvotes, 1,500 comments).
As I alluded to at the beginning of this story, the United Airlines subreddit is, well… a vibe. As a Reddit destination, the sub is incredibly helpful when it comes to answering questions as mundane as, “Which seat should I buy?” And as a Reddit destination, it’s also home to users will who will carve out time to post a review of a single premium-class meal that, if served at an Applebee’s, we’d probably send back to the kitchen.
But Flight UA 236’s technology tendrils extend further. It’s also a TikTok story (shoutout jomo_2). It’s also a Flight Aware app story. It’s also been reported by multiple news outlets — because, hey, air travel, and hey, we all love a good Reddit comment storm.
Or maybe we’re all just looking for a little intrigue on a boring May weekend. I, for one, was following the drama. Perhaps it will achieve the status of Zola’s 148 Tweet-tale, and some day become a movie.