Washington National, LaGuardia, and Dallas-Fort Worth Experienced False Alarms

Over a two-day span, three of the US’s busiest commercial airports were the subjects of unrelated phony bomb threats, with direct impacts ranging from aircraft evacuations to hour-long ground stops. The most recent incident, on November 4 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), left multiple diversions and rippling delays in its wake.

“The Federal Aviation Administration has received the all clear and operations have resumed,” wrote US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a social media post. “I want to thank our brave men and women in law enforcement for their quick response.”

The most serious disruption was seen at National Airport, when an incoming United Airlines flight from Houston received a bomb threat shortly before landing. The caller reportedly demanded $500,000 in cryptocurrency and threatened to detonate an onboard device if his demand wasn’t met.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8, carrying 89 passengers and six crew, landed just after 11:30 am. All passengers were evacuated via airstairs and bused to the terminal while bomb squads conducted a full aircraft search. Nothing was found, but the airport remained closed for more than an hour, with at least 31 flights diverted and dozens more delayed. Operations resumed at 12:50 pm and ripple effects ran their course through the evening, with average delays exceeding 80 minutes.

Elsewhere, a Delta flight at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) was evacuated the same day after a reported bomb threat on a Minneapolis-bound service. That aircraft was also cleared after a full inspection, but passengers were forced to wait overnight before departure.

A day earlier, a Frontier Airlines flight at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) was grounded after the crew discovered a threatening note in a lavatory…again, determined to be non-credible after law enforcement searched the aircraft.

While all three threats proved false, this issue is becoming increasingly common for both airlines and airports. Each event activates layers of emergency procedures, mobilizes multiple agencies, and brings operations to an annoyingly long halt. Investigations remain active.

FMI: www.faa.gov