Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Wi-Fi Hotspot Prank Delays Flight, Scares Crew and Passengers

A passenger on a Virgin Airlines flight from San Francisco to Boston reportedly created an emergency situation for the crew and fellow passengers as he created a Wi-Fi hotspot with name "Galaxy Note 7_1097" during the flight. As the infamous Samsung smartphone was earlier banned from all US airlines due to the explosion cases reported against it, the hoax ended up creating a panic situation.

After realising that there was a Wi-Fi hotspot with Galaxy Note 7 name on the flight, the crew asked the passenger with the phone to press their call button, as per a report by BBC.

Open my laptop on the plane and notice a Galaxy Note 7 wifi hotspot https://t.co/y1csn9gOsZ pic.twitter.com/9Z5IJULuPs

— Lucas Wojciechowski (@lucaswoj) December 20, 2016

"This isn't a joke. We're going to turn on the lights (it's 11pm) and search everyone's bag until we find it," the crew was quoted as saying in the report, citing a passenger onboard - a Twitter user named Lucas Wojciechowski.

When nobody pressed the button, the pilot had to get involved in the situation and warn the passengers that the flight will have to make an emergency landing if nobody claimed responsibility for Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

After the announcement was made, the passenger who played the prank came forward and confessed that there was no Galaxy Note 7 on the flight and he had merely renamed the Wi-Fi hotspot. Wojciechowski told the BBC that he believed no further action taken against the prankster by the airline. The BBC cites another Twitter user to report that the incident delayed and cancelled several other flights in Boston.

Another Twitter user points out that the prankster may not have been trying to play a prank at all - citing his own case where after migrating from a Galaxy Note 7 to a Galaxy S7, his Wi-Fi hotspot name remained the same.

To recall, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was discontinued and recalled by the South Korean company after several cases of explosions were reported regarding the device.