A United Airlines passenger was reportedly removed from an international flight, along with two other travelers, after people around him allegedly spotted him viewing and sending explicit content on his phone before takeoff.
The incident reportedly happened on July 7 aboard United Airlines Flight UA 121 from Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport in Spain to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, according to a traveler who said she witnessed the scene from the row directly behind the man.
The passenger later shared the story with TheTravel and on Reddit, saying the man was seated in a middle seat in Economy Plus, with his wife next to him and a teenage girl nearby. A family with small children was also reportedly seated behind him.
According to the traveler, the man was openly using his phone during boarding and the preflight process, scrolling through multiple apps and allegedly exchanging explicit messages with multiple people.
“[He] was scrolling through several apps completely out in the open, sexting multiple people,” the passenger wrote.
The traveler told TheTravel the man appeared to be in his mid-50s and had allegedly received “about ten” explicit images on his phone. She said the content was visible to people seated around him.
The situation reportedly escalated after the plane doors closed. The teenage girl seated nearby left and did not return to her seat, according to the traveler. Soon after, a flight attendant approached the man.
“A flight attendant came over, very calmly and professionally asked the man to confirm his name, and said he had been reported for inappropriate content,” the passenger wrote.
The man allegedly denied the accusation. But according to the traveler, once the flight attendant walked away, he began deleting messages from his phone in full view of nearby passengers.
“He denied it, she walked away, and then he proceeded to go through and delete every single message,” the traveler wrote. “This was all very obvious and visible to everyone around him.”
The pilot then reportedly announced that departure would be delayed because a passenger had missed the flight and staff needed to remove that person’s luggage from the aircraft.
About 30 minutes later, Barcelona police officers arrived and escorted the man, his wife and a third passenger off the plane without incident, according to the traveler.
The witness said she could not confirm the third passenger’s relationship to the couple, but described her as a younger woman who had been sitting in another row.
“I’m not sure what her relation was to them, but they must’ve been on the same flight reservation,” she told TheTravel.
United Airlines has not publicly commented on the reported incident, but flight data shows that UA 121 was delayed that day. According to FlightAware, the July 7 flight left Barcelona nearly two hours late, departing shortly before 2 p.m. local time. It arrived in Newark just after 4 p.m. local time, about one hour and 16 minutes behind schedule.
The traveler said the pilot later apologized to passengers for the earlier announcement about someone missing the flight, explaining that he had not been able to tell the full truth at the time because of the sensitive nature of the situation.
“The pilot also came on afterward and apologized for ‘lying’ to everyone — said he had to do it given the nature of the situation,” the traveler wrote. “Also very professional and understandable!”
She added that passengers had taken a roughly five-minute bus ride across the tarmac to reach the aircraft before the incident, in hot weather. According to AccuWeather, Barcelona reached a high of 86 degrees Fahrenheit on July 7.
“Cannot imagine what that ride back was like,” the traveler wrote of the passengers who were removed.
The story quickly drew reaction online, with many people praising the United crew for how they handled the awkward and sensitive situation.
“That is GENIUS!!!” one commenter wrote in response to the pilot’s cover story about the delay.
“Amazing work by the entire crew,” another person added.
“Sounds like it was well handled,” someone else wrote.
The traveler agreed, replying, “Very professional handling on United’s part, good job to them.”
According to the witness, the three passengers who were escorted off the plane did not argue or protest their removal.
It is unclear whether the man could face any legal consequences. TheTravel noted that under Article 185 of Spain’s penal code, people convicted of obscene exhibitionism in front of minors can face six months to one year in prison, as well as fines.
United Airlines also has rules that allow passengers to be removed for this type of behavior. Rule 21(H)(1) of the airline’s Contract of Carriage states that passengers may be removed if their conduct is “unlawful; indecent, lewd, or sexual in nature,” including viewing offensive content.
AND……can the person who “observed” this be charged with electronic eavesdropping ? How about minding one’s OWN business ?
Not a fan of porn, (rather be a player than a spectator), but, QUIT being a herd of KARENS !