A United Airlines flight from New York made an emergency landing on Sunday, with one passenger saying he smelled burning and saw someone carry a fire extinguisher to the cockpit.

Airlines spokesman Mike Trevino confirmed that a flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Los Angeles was diverted to Dulles International Airport.

Trevino said the Boeing 757 landed at 9:36 p.m. Sunday and all 105 passengers and seven crew members got off safely. He did not have any other details.

Passenger Phil Lobel, who has a public relations business in Los Angeles, told The Associated Press that about 30 minutes into the flight he detected an electrical burning smell.

He said flight attendants began going over emergency instructions with passengers in the exit rows and someone brought up a fire extinguisher from the back of the plane to the cockpit.

Lobel said the plane landed within about 20 minutes and a half-dozen or more emergency vehicles met the aircraft in Virginia.

Afterward, Lobel said passengers who had seats in the front of the plane showed him photographs they took of flames in the cockpit. Some of the passengers on the flight were celebrities, he said.

About an hour after the plane landed, Lobel received an e-mail from United apologizing for the "experience" he had on the flight.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately return a call for comment.