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28 March 2024

Crew refuse to fly after spooky WiFi hot-spot name

Published
By Vicky Kapur

In this day and age of security breaches and missing aircraft, airlines and the aviation world in general are always on the vigil for any untoward incident, on or off flight.

Little wonder then that the crew of an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles International Airport to London refused to fly after a concerned passenger reported finding a wireless connection called ‘Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork’ before the plane took off.

According to the LAX Police Department, the incident was reported at Terminal 4 around 9.30pm on Sunday, October 26, 2014.

LAXPD spokeswoman Katherine Alvarado said in a statement that Flight 136 was preparing to depart when an unidentified male passenger searching for a wireless network discovered the connection. He reported it to the airline and the plane returned to the gate.

After conducting an investigation and questioning passengers, police determined that "no crime was committed and no further action will be taken", an LAPD statement read.

Even as the US Customs and Border Protection officials reportedly cleared the flight for take-off after the investigation, the flight crew didn't want to fly that day.

Eventually, the flight was rescheduled for Monday (October 27, 2014) afternoon. An American Airlines spokesman was quoted by local media as confirming that the flight was delayed "out of an abundance of caution".

[Image via Shutterstock]