Image Credit: MDRX – Wikimedia Commons
A Qantas flight that was due to depart from Melbourne, Australia had to be delayed over the bank holiday weekend, when a passenger was alarmed by the name of a Wi-Fi hotspot.
A female passenger, on board Flight QF481 was looking for a Wi-Fi connection she could utilise while on board the plane. Whilst looking through the list of available connections she noticed the rather inappropriately named ‘Mobile Detonation Device,’ Understandably alarmed, she alerted a member of the cabin crew who in turn reported the incident to the pilot.
The pilot turned off the engines of the Perth bound plane until he could check the suspicious device over personally.
Another passenger aboard the delayed flight was John Vidler, he told the West Australian what the pilot had said regarding the matter, “He said there was a device on the plane that had a name on it that he found threatening and that we were not leaving until that device was brought to him.”
Passengers and crew on the plane waited for the device to be taken to the pilot for around half an hour. Whilst most believed it to be a distasteful prank, others were understandably shaken by the event.
An anonymous source said’ “The pilot said a particular passenger had gone to log on and a hotspot name has come up with one which was a scare to Qantas and passengers.
The pilot made us aware and said they were going to take proper security precautions.
After half an hour no one came forward, the Wi-Fi covered a fair distance so could’ve been someone in the terminal.
Some immature person, possibly in the terminal had a (hotspot) name that caused the actual scare.”
A spokesperson for Qantas said there was no security or safety risk discovered. This didn’t stop a larger number of passengers seceding against taking the flight. John Vidler reported that around 40-50 passengers decided to get off the flight and take their luggage with them. Which just added to the delays already experienced by passengers aboard Qantas flight QF481.
Qantas offered to transfer the concerned passengers to alternative flights. A representative said’ “Some passengers elected not to travel so there was a delay as bags were taken off and those passengers disembarked,”
Once the whole debacle had come to an end the plane had been held on the runway for around three hours before it finally got to take off for its destination of Perth. Thankfully for the passengers that decided to stay on board, it was just a prank and they arrived at their destination safely if not a little irritated by the whole event.