Two U.S. commercial jets diverted this week after unrelated mid-air emergencies, underscoring persistent safety risks from personal electronics and false threats. Delta Air Lines said flight 1334, a Boeing 757-200 carrying 185 passengers and six crew from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, landed in Fort Myers on Monday when a passenger’s portable lithium-ion battery ignited. Cabin crew extinguished the fire and no injuries were reported, but the pilots declared an emergency because of lingering smoke. A day earlier, Allegiant Air flight 1023 returned to St. Pete–Clearwater about 40 minutes into its trip to Roanoke, Virginia, after passenger Taj Malik Taylor twice told seatmates “my laptop is a bomb.” Deputies boarded the aircraft, arrested the 27-year-old on a felony false-threat charge and found no explosive device. Taylor faces a potential US$25,000 fine or up to five years in prison if convicted; the FBI is leading the inquiry. In a separate incident on 4 July, an American Airlines jet with 193 passengers turned back to San Juan after a traveller misread a neighbouring passenger’s text message containing the acronym “RIP” and reported it as a threat. Aviation-safety analyst Jeff Marootian noted that lithium-battery fires are “largely preventable” when devices remain within reach, and carriers say the rapid responses in all three cases show existing protocols are working even as onboard scares become more frequent.