Sneezing, coughing passenger causes Newark bound plane to land

A United flight plane headed to Newark from Colorado made an emergency landing in Denver on Sunday afternoon after passengers became “disruptive” over a sneezing and coughing passenger.

Flight 1562 left Eagle County Regional Airport in Vail and landed in Denver just over an hour later, according to the website FlightAware.com. The flight took off again at 3:03 p.m. and landed at Newark at 8:25 p.m.

United spokeswoman Kimberly Gibbs told New Jersey 101.5 that the landing was because of a "small group of disruptive passengers onboard who failed to follow crew member instructions." The plane was met by law enforcement and the passengers removed, according to Gibbs.

The passenger was coughing and sneezing, which caused concern among the passengers, according to Gibbs, who said the individual was found to be suffering with allergies, not sickness.

Passenger Jake Futefas told CBS Denver the passengers were trying to get others to join in to force a landing to get the passenger removed. The pilot told passengers there was a security concern and the plane would be landing in Denver, Futefas told CBS Denver.

Denver police spokesman Kurt Barnes told the Denver Post the passengers were met by the FBI and chose to leave the flight.

The FBI did not immediately return a message on Tuesday morning.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ