Some passengers refused to board their American Airlines flight after it was delayed by five hours because of a potential bomb threat via a Wi-Fi network. What would you do in this situation?
We all know you can’t say, not even jokingly, the word “bomb” at an airport without people looking at you sideways. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll be questioned by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Now imagine how well it would be received for a person’s phone hotspot on a flight to allege that there’s a bomb on the aircraft.
Several outlets have reported on a flight from Austin, Texas, to Charlotte, North Carolina, that was delayed because of a bomb threat last week.
Here’s what the person who first noticed the potential threat had to say.
Did this Wi-Fi network indicate a bomb on an American Airlines flight?
In a viral video with more than 1.4 million views, content creator Kendra Noel Moore (@kennnomo) shared her shocking experience on a recent flight.
Moore explains that she was one of the first to board the plane because of her service dog and opened up her laptop to finish up some work.
The plane’s Wi-Fi wasn’t working, and her device wasn’t connecting to her hotspot, so she clicked on the Wi-Fi settings to further investigate.
That’s when she saw this alarming and terrifying hot spot name: “Bomb on flight AA2863.”
“My face went white,” Moore says.
For a second, she contemplated not reporting it, knowing it would delay travel. But she immediately snapped back.
“Of course I’m reporting this because this is insane. Like this is actually insane, especially with everything going on with planes and flights, and I’m not gonna take a chance,” Moore says.
“I don’t care if it ruins my day, it’s better than ending my life and ending everyone else’s life on this plane. I can’t sit on this information,” Moore adds.
Passengers spring into action
Moore told her fellow seatmates what she saw, and the guy in the aisle seat took her computer to show the flight attendant.
“We could see from where we were sitting, panic across her face,” Moore notes.
She took a picture of the hotspot’s name and got on the phone with the captain.
Knowing that just a hotspot name wouldn’t help track the person, Moore clicked in to get more information and saw that it was a rotating Wi-Fi address.
The attendant asked them not to tell any other passengers out of fear that it would cause a mass panic. So they sat there for an hour, waiting.
Moore, who had a window seat, noticed their luggage was getting pulled off the plane and lined up in rows, presumably for a bomb-sniffing dog to pass through.
Did they find out who did it?
Moore says several cops got on the plane. “If this is a joke, I can handle a joke,” they said. “We can talk about a joke. We can get through something if this is a joke. But if it’s not, there’s going to be more serious consequences. If this is a joke, I’m giving you one opportunity to come forward.”
But no passenger admitted to it, so the authorities checked every person’s hotspot name.
They eventually pulled everyone off the plane and escorted them through the airport in groups to the other side of security. Surrounded by dozens of TSA agents, everyone had to go through security a second time.
Dogs were brought in to sniff the overhead luggage and cargo.
After nearly five hours, the plane was eventually deemed safe to fly because they didn’t find anything. About half of the passengers opted for a different flight, noting that they didn’t feel safe on this one anymore.
One of the officers said that in his career, this happened one other time. It took five months to eventually track that person down.
“I believe everybody was very happy with the way American Airlines handled the situation. We all felt very safe,” Moore says.
Were any other American Airlines flights affected?
The Austin Police Department told Travel Noire that the bomb scare didn’t “significantly impact the airport’s operations.”
TSA told People that they take bomb threats “very seriously.”
‘Shame on that person.’
“‘I don’t care if it ruins my day it’s better than ending my life’ tbh so much power in that I got chills just typing that,” the top comment read.
“What a huge waste of resources for this to be a joke. Shame on that person… so glad you’re safe and I’m sorry this happened to you,” a person said.
“This also makes me feel better about how serious they took it. This is my main airport too,” another wrote.
@kennnomo flight AA2863 bomb scare
♬ original sound – kendra noel moore
The Daily Dot reached out to Moore for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message. We also reached out to American Airlines and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport via email.
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