United UA2174 Lands in New Orleans Squawking 7500, and Deputies Arrest a Passenger Who Claimed a Bomb

United Airlines flight UA2174 from Newark landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Monday night, November 9, 2026, with its transponder set to 7500, the code for unlawful interference. Jefferson Parish deputies say a 34-year-old man on board told crew members he had a bomb, and they arrested him without incident.

United confirmed that the flight carried 46 passengers and six crew members. The aircraft landed safely, and passengers were taken off the jet and brought to the terminal.

What the sheriff’s office and United said

According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, as reported by Fox 8, the man began acting irrationally aboard the aircraft at around 11:20 p.m. Deputies said he reportedly told the crew there was a bomb on board.

He was taken to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center and booked with communicating false information of planned arson and with terrorizing. Officials have not released his name, and no further details had been made public by Tuesday morning.

United told Simple Flying that the flight “landed safely following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard” and that law enforcement met the aircraft on arrival.

The FAA listed the event on its incident statements page, saying the crew reported a passenger disturbance and that the agency will investigate. Its statement describes the flight as headed to Pensacola, Florida, and gives a landing time of around 10:10 p.m., which does not match the tracking data or local reports, which put the Newark to New Orleans flight on the ground after 11 p.m.

What the tracking data shows

ADS-B data from adsb.lol identifies the jet as N17422, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, flying as UAL2174. It took off from Newark at about 9:27 p.m. Eastern and cruised southwest at 38,000 feet.

The descent began over southern Alabama at about 10:37 p.m. Central. The transponder first showed 7500 at 10:42 p.m., at about 24,550 feet, roughly 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Mobile and about 136 miles (219 km) from New Orleans.

The jet touched down at about 11:07 p.m. and kept squawking 7500 on the ground until about 12:52 a.m., when the transponder changed code and the aircraft was moved. The flight path from Newark was a straight line toward New Orleans, so the data shows no sign of a diversion.

The 11:20 p.m. time in the sheriff’s account falls after the landing in the tracking data. The statements released so far do not say when on the flight the man first made his claim.

What a 7500 squawk means

Every airliner carries a four-digit transponder code that controllers see on radar. Three codes are reserved: 7500 for unlawful interference, 7600 for a radio failure and 7700 for a general emergency.

The FAA’s Aeronautical Information Manual defines 7500 as “I am being hijacked/forced to a new destination.” The manual tells crews to use the code when circumstances do not allow a spoken distress or urgency call.

Under the manual, controllers then ask the pilot to verify the code. If the crew confirms it or does not answer, controllers stop asking questions, keep following the flight and notify the authorities.

The charges and a second United case

Louisiana’s statute on communicating false information of planned arson explicitly covers bomb threats and threats involving fake explosive devices. It carries up to 15 years in prison at hard labor.

It follows another United passenger case about two weeks earlier. On October 24, United flight UA1681 from Las Vegas to Newark turned back to Harry Reid International after the crew reported a passenger disturbance.

For UA2174, the next steps are the FAA’s investigation and the case in Jefferson Parish. At the time of writing on November 10, none of the official statements had named the passenger or mentioned federal charges.