It was apparently someone’s twisted idea of a joke. They were smart enough to evade arrest but nobody on American Airlines Flight 286 appreciates the humor. A passenger labeled their Wi-Fi hotspot “There is a bomb on the flight.” The FAA and other federal authorities didn’t like it much either. Just because they couldn’t immediately identify the culprit doesn’t mean they won’t catch up to them eventually.
Bad idea of a joke
“if this is a joke, please raise your hand now,” the San Antonio, Texas, police lieutenant calmly declared. Authorities were prepared to offer whoever named their device’s Wi-Fi hotspot “There is a bomb on the flight,” a chance to get off easy.
They could deal with that, he explained, a whole lot “differently than if we have to do a full-blown investigation of what’s going on here.” Nobody raised their hand, so they had to do it the hard way.
Passengers hoping to keep commitments in Charlotte, North Carolina, were seriously delayed departing San Antonio. Nationwide travel is no joke to business fliers.
American Airlines wasn’t responsible for what happened to Flight 286 on Friday, February 7. They had cheerfully pulled away from the gate, then suddenly stopped and had to go back.
The plane was evacuated but that was only the beginning. Everyone hoping to be on the east coast was stuck on the ground in Texas for an extra five hours.
A pack of bomb sniffing dogs and another pack of law enforcement went over the whole plane. Along with all the passengers and every single piece of luggage. Security isn’t something to joke around with.
A concerned passenger
The “concerned passenger” who noticed the message later regretted alerting a flight attendant. They wouldn’t have been stuck at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport all day if they simply ignored what was clearly a smartass joke.
The flight attendant wasn’t taking any chances and notified the captain.
When the pilot announced he was turning the jet around and parking back at the gate, the audible groans of passengers could be heard on the cockpit voice recorder.
He didn’t mention the lame joke as the cause. Instead, he blamed an “administrative issue.”
Since passengers instantly started badmouthing American for something that was totally beyond the airlines’ control, the captain came clean. It’s probably a joke he explained but the feds would come unglued if he didn’t take action.
When police couldn’t get anyone to take responsibility, “all the passengers were escorted off the plane and forced to show police the name of their hotspot.” Since nobody was arrested, they must have renamed it fast. Please don’t joke at the airport, TSA reminds the flying public. They “take bomb threats very seriously.“
