Never joke about bombs on a plane—not even in your Wi-Fi name. One prankster found this out the hard way when an American Airlines flight was delayed for over four hours after a passenger spotted a suspicious WiFi hotspot name.
According to ABC News, this insensitive Wi-Fi name grounded American Airlines flight 2863 from Texas to North Carolina last Friday (7 Feb).
As passengers settled in, one person noticed something unsettling while browsing their tablet—an available Wi-Fi network named: “There is a bomb on the flight.”
Alarmed, they quickly alerted a flight attendant, who wasted no time notifying the cockpit.
The plane, which was about to taxi, immediately returned to the gate with an announcement to its passengers indicating that there was an “administrative issue”.
Meanwhile, the local police department was alerted to the incident.
Within minutes, police officers boarded the plane and informed passengers of the situation.
“If this is a joke, please raise your hand now,” an officer announced. “Because we can deal with the practical joke differently than if we have to launch a full-blown investigation.”
Unfortunately, no one raised their hands which prompted the officer to escort all the passengers off the plane.
Source: Reddit
Officers then conducted thorough security checks, inspecting passengers’ devices and verifying Wi-Fi hotspot names.
Luggage was also checked to ensure safety.
Source: Reddit
After an exhaustive search of the aircraft and luggage, authorities found no threat. The plane was finally given the all-clear.
Originally set to take off at 1:42 PM, the flight eventually departed at 6:15 PM—over four hours behind schedule.
Also read: Passenger pulls woman’s hair during psychotic episode on US plane, cabin crew punches him in throat
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Featured image adapted from Reddit.