American Airlines flight 2863 from Austin to Charlotte was delayed four and a half hours on Friday afternoon because a passenger named their wifi network “I have a bomb.”
Police boarded the aircraft and asked the passenger with that network name to identify themselves, but they did not. Passengers were all taken off the aircraft and held, cordoned-off in the gate area. Eventually passengers were all marched off in a line back to a security checkpoint for re-screening. Bags were offloaded from the aircraft and lined up on the tarmac.
Austin airport TSA checkpoint
A passenger from the flight estimates that there were “at least 3 K9s at the gate as well as a couple [explosive device] specialists. There were also at minimum 8 [police] officers as well as around 20 TSA agents hanging around the gate.”
The gate area can be seen here, as well as bags on the tarmac beside the aircraft in the second photo:
luggage is lined up outside gate 24 at abia and the gate inside is blocked off
byu/velvet-violets inAustin
And here’s the gate cordoned off:
This is one passenger’s account,
[S]everal cops board the plane and announce that someone was playing a ‘prank.’ The prank being that someone on board had renamed their hotspot to ‘I have a bomb.’ Cue the groaning from the entire..plane when the cop announced this. Then the cop gave the opportunity for the individual to come clean…
Thus the deplaning procedure began after the cops went down the aisle asking to see everyones’ devices and their hotspot settings. After that, we all un-boarded and waited in the gate (which had been cordoned off and surrounded by agents). We were told that we then had to go through screening again so all of us were paraded through the airport in a long ass congo line with agents flanking us on both sides.
Austin airport terminal
One year on 9/11 a passenger named their device “Southwest – Bomb on Board” and then changed it to “the bomb is on this seat.” Things got sorted, and everyone realized it was a joke, when it was later changed to ‘something about the flight attendant being hot.’
Another passenger caused chaos when naming their hotspot ‘Samsung Galaxy Note 7’ when those devices were catching fire and airlines were explicitly aksing passengers whether they were carrying one onboard. Bomb on board is another thing not to name your network.
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.
Eventually passengers reboarded the 25-year old Boeing 737-800 (registration N942AN) and arrived in Charlotte long after their connections had departed. I reached out to American Airlines for comment and will update if they respond.
My mother was born in 1913 and died in 2012. During that long life she saw a lot. When I would get mad about something on the news she had a catchall phrase that fits perfectly here:
“People are stupid.”
@drrichard — She was succinct! I like it. We sorely need her ‘wisdom’ today, more than ever.
People who think doing nonsense like this deserve a 15 minute genital tasing
Maybe forced sterilization with a butter knife isn’t such a bad idea afterall.
@Ron –‘What is this, the Dark Ages?’ At least ‘heat’ the blade first. We’re not war criminals.
@Drew –How creative! Though, if they’re ‘into’ that, it may not be the deterrent you seek.
Good brainstorming, fellas.
While the person, most likely, didn’t break any law (that I know of) “STUPID” is the mildest name that I can think of. I would think that the airline has no legal recourse against “STUPID”. Whether the passengers affected by “STUPID” have any recourse, I wouldn’t know. I know that when the jackass ran past security, into the secure area and down the “UP ONLY” escalator at my hometown airport years ago, my flight outgoing flight was canceled, my non-refundable hotel reservation was sacrificed and I sat in the airport parking lot for three hours before I was allowed to get my car and go home. NOTHING I could do to that jackass to “get even”.
Probable cause needed to search everyone’s phone?
If there were an announcement asking someone to confess and step forward, few would. The North Korean way is different. Someone in a foreign tour group stole a hotel towel. The van going to the airport was stopped. The tour guide negotiated with the police. The police would step away for a moment. All the van passengers would close their eyes for a minute. The thief would toss the towel to the interior step of the van. Nobody would be executed or arrested.
@Win Whitmire –That’s incredibly frustrating. If you had it, would travel insurance even cover such an incident? Or an adjuster would deny the claim on ‘force majeure,’ then you have to sue the perpetrator, but of course they’re broke, so… yup, you/we get screwed. Alright. ‘Lock (them) up!’
What’s the legality of police demanding to see everyone’s Wi-Fi settings or anything behind a security log-in?
@NedsKid –Not sure if you are genuine or merely ‘sea-lioning’ here. But, I’ll bite. First, please consult with an actual licensed attorney if you’re serious. I suspect that their initial answer is: “It depends.” Like, on which jurisdiction you are in, for instance. In the US, generally, our federal Constitution’s 4th Amendment is the reasonable expectation of privacy, which protects against ‘unlawful’ search and seizure. For digital privacy, specifically, there’s a federal Privacy Act (1974), and state laws, too. However, once you’re at an airport, within a secure area, the public interest in safety may supersede your privacy interest. Of course, all of our laws are subject to change, possibly dramatically, and very soon. *gestures broadly*
To 1990, great wisdom updated.: can’t fix stupid. Unfortunately it seems to be contagious.
@Douglas Scott—Or, sure, ‘laws’ are silly. Might makes right! Rule of the jungle. Hey, is that leopard over there?
@derek —Sadly, Otto (and his group) were not given that ‘courtesy’ by the DPRK. That ‘country’ also has a ‘constitution’ but it’s ‘democratic’ in name-only. That document is online—read it for yourself. It always ‘sounds nice’ on paper. Reality is different. Maybe we should not strive to become a dictatorship, too, eh. Or was that only on ‘day 1’? I still think ‘separation of powers’ was a brilliant idea, even if might seem messy and inefficient at times, but it worked remarkably well for nearly 250 years (with a few detours). Don’t worry, though you’d be one of the special few to benefit from the ‘other way’ of doing things. Lucky guy.
When stupid person do stupid things especially in a secured areas of the airport and airplane, it cause a very inconvenience experience to everyone around. That person should be held accountable.
So they didn’t end up catching the responsible party?
So stupid and selfish indeed. A) for doing that in the first place and B) for not fessing up and causing extreme inconvenience for everyone else when (presumably) you’re going to get caught anyway, even if not in this case.
Given how WiFi works someone could have broadcast that from the terminal building near the plane.
@P–You raise the right question (actually identifying who did this).
If identified, whether they are ‘charged’ likely is a question of ‘intent’ (chaos, disruption, or a mere joke). Maybe they get a warning, a ban from the airline, or are prosecuted (likely if a repeat-offender).
Back in the day, prank-calling 9-1-1 on a land-line often resulted in an officer being sent to the address, just to make sure everything was alright. Even if it was just ‘kids being kids,’ they’d give ’em a good talkin’. The goal was deterrence. If it keeps happening, fines, arrests, etc.
Here, it seems they did not find the person, and unfortunately the passengers endured a collective inconvenience without any real recourse.
Could be one of those hilarious Tik-Tok challenges.
@1990: No, I ask as genuine on several fronts… this was in Texas, so let’s just say that Constitutional rights are interpreted more one direction than the other. I’ve dealt with a situation where someone found a shell casing on a plane. Nobody would fess up to owning it. So, TSA expelled everybody on board the plane (including the crew) from the secure area and everyone had to go back through screening with “additional precautions” taken in order to go back through. Crew was about to time out so the decision was made that we would wait 30 minutes and anybody who made it back through was going to go, everybody else…. well… they weren’t happy. But either 1/3 of the plane went (or thereabouts) or nobody did, and the plane and crew were out of position for the next morning disrupting another few hundred people.
I would be willing to SHOW my phone, given reasonable articulable suspicion, but not allow law enforcement to handle or manipulate it. That’s acceptable, or we can waste more of everyone’s time.
Having been involved with some similar situations before, and standing on the side with the people wearing alphabet group windbreakers, there’s often some feeling of “make them all suffer to make an example.”
I ask as it’s apparently a constitutional right (not mine) that I allow another citizen to stand over my shoulder at the DMV recording my transaction to post it on YouTube because they have a first amendment right to do so (allegedly) and none of us (allegedly) has any expectation of privacy in public, meaning any building paid for with public funds. Or maybe I’ve dealt with some stupid cops.
@Steve — Bah! If so, that settles it, the CCP is for sure messing with us. Ban it!
@NedsKid — Sorry for my delay. I appreciate your sincerity. Again, please do seek professional advice if you feel you really need it. Like, don’t take my word for anything here.
My own opinion is that there’s the law (which is very much a ‘human construct,’ and may not be enforced accurately, proportionately, or fairly), and then there’s reality (nature, gravity, physics, etc.) which you might not be able to ‘reason’ with.
In the moment, depending on the situation, jurisdiction, location, and honestly, how people are ‘feeling’ that day and time, which is not always ‘good,’ the laws may not be followed, and your rights may be violated, which is of course concerning to those affected (and to society at-large).
Personally, within the context of travel, I’d adopt a ‘hierarchy of needs’ approach, like #1 is survival, #2 is getting to where you are going as reliably and efficiently as possible, and #3 is comfort and everything else. But, as always, you do you. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
On collective punishment, depending on the degree of the harm, it can be a literal war crime. Challenging to prosecute, though. For conflicts on flights, it seems ‘de-escalation’ is ideal, but it doesn’t work out always. For instance, we can get knocked out and defamed like Dr. Dao, then receive a juicy payout, one assumes. Probably still have to fight for that in court, though.
Anyway, good luck out there. We may all need it.
The next illegal sentence after “it’s ok to be white”, people are afraid of words.