American Airlines flight 1847 from San Juan to Dallas—fort Worth was forced to turn around 30 minutes after departure on Thursday when a passenger misinterpreted a condolence text received by a seatmate. The message read “R.I.P.” Rest in peace was interpreted as a possible bomb threat.
- The flight departed from San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marín Airport carrying 193 people. A passenger was snooping over the shoulder of their seat opponent and noticed the text – and reported it to a flight attendant.
- The aircraft returned to airport. TSA boarded, inspected the plane, and interviewed the passenger. There was no threat found. Investigators learned the recipient had suffered a family death the day before and was heading home for the funeral, and the flight was cleared to depart again about three and a half hours late.
You’re told ‘see something, say something’ but Bruce Schneier’s adage that ‘when you have amateurs doing security, you get amateur security’ applies.
Maybe don’t look at other peoples’ phones? One lesson I learned intuitively growing up in New York is that when you’re surrounded by masses of people, privacy comes from ignoring everyone around you. That’s a best practice for air travel.
Earlier this year an American Airlines flight was delayed four hours because of a passenger’s wifi network name, “I Have A Bomb.” People who actually have bombs don’t announce it via their wifi network name.
If you live in an apartment or condo building, odds on you see several names meant to be clever. Most of them aren’t. If you’re going to choose condogirl you might as well leave the default set to ATT2sXj6Fk-5g. And I guess it’s fine to name your home wifi Al Qaeda Sleeper Cell or Russian FSB Surveillance Van but using that name on a plane causes problems. But go figure that you can’t text condolence messages to passengers anymore when they lose a loved one.
Well. I guess now it has become “If you see nothing, say something”.
they should have banned the person that reported the text.
when you take something out of context, the chances are very high you will get it wrong.
Thats why I’ve always liked “Pretty Fly for a Wi-Fi.” It’s inoffensive but gets a chuckle from people old enough to know the reference.
All cellphones should be required to be turned off for the duration of the flight.
What’s a “seat opponent”?
@jns just because your brain is turned off by default it doesn’t mean the rest of us should have ti turn our WiFi off
Sounds like an SJU problem.. not the best airport/destination. Can no airline manage a proper lounge there? Sheesh.
Some snooping nobody who so wanted to be somebody, so makes a big deal out of nothing. We see it a lot now, often from SJWs.
That loser should be placed on national TV as loser of the day…the one that reported it. Every singular person was inconvenienced by someones stupidity. I would of certainly pointed this out to every singular passenger. Then taken a picture of this morons face and put it on socials.
Screen privacy shields are available for your cell phone, and a wise investment if you travel on airplanes often. Gary, you missed an Amazon affiliate opportunity on this one 🙂
Everyone knows a better wifi name would be NSA Surveillance Van. Russians dont spy on Americans.
This is what happens when histrionic Cluster B types (mostly women but definitely men too) get let out into public.