American Airlines Flight AA2002, traveling from Las Vegas to New York, was diverted to Kansas City International Airport. Aero Saga has learned that police and emergency vehicles met the aircraft on the tarmac.
On Sunday, July 26, 2026, American Airlines Flight AA2002 took off from Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport, bound for New York JFK. However, the plane was forced to divert to Kansas City International Airport (MCI). No official passenger count has been publicly released, but a typical Boeing 737 or Airbus A321 holds between 170 and 190 passengers at full capacity.
Passengers were initially told that the plane was being diverted because of a "maintenance issue." This announcement was to keep them calm. However, upon landing at MCI, they found out that wasn't the case. Apparently, the plane was forced to divert due to a security threat. Aero Saga has learned that, upon touching ground, seven police cars and two buses surrounded the plane. Travelers were forced to deplane and leave everything on board, including passports and phones. Law enforcement officials started boarding the plane. After the emergency security rescreening, no threat was found.
Worried family and friends took to Reddit to find out what was going on.
"How will we be notified that the 'incident' has concluded or resolved?" the original poster asked in the comments, adding: "Still haven’t gotten a text from my family member indicating everything is good."
"My wife is on the flight. She called saying they had to deplane and the FBI were boarding the plane," a user commented. "It looks like American Airlines has updated the flight from MCI to depart at 9:30 pm local," the user added.
Then someone onboard the plane confirmed: "Can confirm we are back on the plane. Told there was threat to plane once on the ground, in the air it was a ‘maintenance issue’ - to keep us calm I’m sure." The passenger added that they had to leave everything behind and spent two hours or so in the luggage hall.
The plane was scheduled to depart MCI at 9:30 pm local time, arriving at JFK at 1:27 am.
Aero Saga has reached out to American Airlines for comment.
