American Airlines flight delayed over chilling WiFi hotspot name with word ‘bomb’
When the police arrived, the passengers were forced to evacuate and go through a security check as the culprit refused to come forward.
An American Airlines plane was delayed after a passenger renamed their WiFi hotspot to “There is a bomb on the flight,” ABC News reported. Flight 286, bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, was scheduled to take off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 1:42 pm. However, it was delayed by over four hours when the flight crew was notified about the concerning hotspot name. When the police arrived, the passengers were forced to evacuate and go through a security check as the culprit refused to come forward.
American Airlines flight delayed over chilling WiFi hotspot name
Passenger Bruce Steen, 63, told the outlet that the pilot initially blamed the delay on an “administrative issue” but later revealed that it was because “somebody renamed their hotspot” to “there is a bomb on the flight.” The police asked the culprit to come forward, saying that the situation would have been handled “differently” if it was a “practical joke.”
“If this is a joke, please raise your hand now, because we can deal with the practical joke differently than if this if we have to do a full-blown investigation of what’s going on here,” a lieutenant told the passengers, according to Steen. However, nobody came forward, forcing the police to check each person's hotspot individually.
The passengers were then taken to a cordoned-off area, where they were re-screened by security, View from the Wing reported. Their bags were also offloaded and rechecked, per ABC News. Along with the luggage, the aircraft was swept for explosives before taking off at around 6:15 pm. A spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in a statement to the outlet that they “take bomb threats very seriously.”
The spokesperson added, “All passengers and their checked baggage were rescreened.” During the re-screening, passengers' bags were sniffed by bomb dogs, per the outlet. Meanwhile, the Austin Police Department, which was notified of the situation, told People, “The incident did not cause significant impacts to airport operations.”
