Flight Nearly Diverted Due to 'Fake' Galaxy Note 7

Dec. 23, 2016

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2 min read

Flight Nearly Diverted Due to 'Fake' Galaxy Note 7

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If you've flown anytime in the last two months, you've surely heard the announcements about the Galaxy Note 7 being completely banned from flights. Even in the off position, the Department of Transportation and airlines aren't taking any risks after multiple devices have caught fire — even the supposedly-safe replacement versions.

So imagine the panic that might ensue if you opened your laptop and saw a "Galaxy Note 7" Wi-Fi network. Well, that's exactly what happened to one traveler on a recent red-eye transcontinental flight:

Wojciechowski pointed out the situation to the Virgin America flight attendants, who took the situation very seriously. After all, as one Twitter user pointed out, this is "the modern equivalent of saying you have a bomb on an airplane."

The flight attendants on the San Francisco to Boston flight made multiple requests for the passenger with a Galaxy Note 7 to come forward — even threatening to "search everyone's bag until we find it." When those requests went unheeded, the captain got involved, threatening to divert the flight if the owner didn't fess up. The captain went on to issue this ominous threat:

It seems the threat of finding themselves abandoned in an empty terminal was enough to force what seems to be a prankster to come forward. The next announcement explained that there wasn't a Galaxy Note 7 on the aircraft, but "the name of the device was changed to 'Galaxy Note 7'. It was not a GN7."

There's no word if the prankster faced any disciplinary action from causing such a scene, but there were some repercussions for the airline. Although the flight didn't end up being diverted, it seems the incident led to the next flight on that aircraft having to be canceled:

All's well that ends well, but this is a reminder of just how serious airlines are taking this Galaxy Note 7 ban. If you still haven't turned in your device, make sure to at least leave it at home before your next flight. And pranksters, this joke isn't funny. While this passenger might've gotten away with it this time, pilots and FAs on future flights might not be as forgiving.

H/T: BBC

What do you think of the reaction from the flight attendants and pilots?