A Virgin America flight was almost diverted after a WiFi hotspot named ‘Samsung Galaxy Note7_1097‘ sent the crew into a total panic.

Passenger Lucas Wojciechowski was on flight 358 from San Francisco to Boston when he opened his laptop and noticed the unfortunately-named WiFi.


Galaxy Note7s are banned by the US Department of Travel from all flights, thanks to the devices’ alarming habit of randomly exploding. Basically, having one on a flight is the equivalent of stowing a shiny bomb in your overstuffed hand luggage, so of course the flight crew reacted accordingly.


While some outlets are reporting this story as ‘IDIOT PASSENGER CHANGES HIS WIFI NAME AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED’, that might not be the case.

Twitter user Steve Baxter pointed out that when he went from a Note7 to an S7, the WiFi hotspot name remained the same.


Perhaps an unfortunate passenger fell into the same trap.

But all’s well that ends well – no bombs were detonated, no flights were delayed, and the only loser here is Samsung’s plummeting rep as a manufacturer of non-exploding devices. 

“When our InFlight Teammates see potential evidence of this device onboard, they take it seriously,” a spokesperson for Virgin America said. “In this case, there was no such device — the safety of the passengers and crew was never in question. And no flights were cancelled or delayed as a result.”


Photo: Getty / Emma McIntyre.

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