On the same day that left the U.K. after a terrorist bombing at Manchester Arena, a jittery U.K.-bound pilot ground flight operations to a halt after a passenger noticed a Wi-Fi account named Jihadist Cell London 1 onboard the aircraft.
The flight, operated by Thomson Airways, was scheduled to depart from Cancun, Mexico for Gatwick, London, just a few hours after reports of the Manchester bombing hit the airwaves.
According to a report in the U.K.'s, The Sun, a seated passenger was the first to see the Wi-Fi address.
"As I sat in my seat I noticed one of the options for Wi-Fi connection on my phone relating to being a jihadist. I accosted a member of cabin crew, who took my phone up to the cockpit.
After seeing the Wi-Fi address, the pilot first made an announcement that the flight would be delayed, but soon thereafter followed up with an impassioned speech to passengers, explaining what was going.
In the speech, he asked the owner of the hotspot to come forward.
"If you are the instigator of this, then I very, very strongly recommend that you let yourself be known to the members of the cabin crew. If not, I have not alternative but to get police on board," said the captain."
He then continued, "If I don't think we're safe, then we're not going, simple as that. I have a family and five children at home and I will not be flying if it's not safe."
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He also called the situation "utterly unacceptable."
Police were called and eventually boarded the flight and inspected passengers' mobile devices. Sniffer dogs were also called to examine the flight.
Police did ultimately clear the flight for take-off, but at that point, a number of fearful passengers demanded to be let off the plane. The additional delay that would have been caused by waiting for passenger luggage to be unloaded from the plane would have put the flight over Mexico's mandated delay limits, so the flight was canceled and passengers were put up in hotels for the night.
No passenger ever came forward to claim ownership of the Wi-Fi name and a suspect was not identified.
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