‘Call of Duty’ chat sparks main bomb scare as aircraft evacuated at airport

A flight had to be evacuated after a passenger overheard the words ‘bomb’ and ‘explosion’ – but it was later found to be Call of Duty gameplay chat, police said

A major airport security scare turned out to be a complete misunderstanding caused by a video game chat. On Sunday night (November 8), Southern California’s Ontario International Airport endured a massive terror incident, or so it was thought.

According to the Ontario Police Department, sometime before 10 p.m., a passenger aboard a Frontier Airlines flight waiting to depart overheard a fellow traveller using the words “bomb” and “explosion”.

Alarmed by what sounded like an active threat, the passenger reported it to the flight crew. Airport authorities reportedly took immediate action, and officials evacuated the entire aircraft as well as the east wing of Terminal 2 inside the airport as a safety precaution.

Police reportedly detained the passenger who had made the comments. During questioning, the individual explained that he was wearing headphones and speaking on a FaceTime call with a friend.

They were actually playing and discussing the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty, and he was simply using gaming callouts to describe the virtual match’s gunfire and explosive gameplay, NTV reported. Law enforcement and airport crews conducted a thorough sweep of the aircraft and cabin.

After finding no explosive devices or weapons, police determined that no crime had been committed and released the gamer without charges, KSL reported. Once the area was cleared, all passengers – including the detained individual – were allowed to reboard, and the flight departed for its destination without further incident.

According to CBS, no additional details were immediately made available. It’s unclear what destination the plane was headed to.

In other travel chaos news, a woman was terrified to discover a male passenger allegedly pleasuring himself next to her at 36,000 feet on a flight, the Daily Star previously reported. The sick incident happened on a United Airlines plane.

Police confirmed they met a United Airlines flight upon its arrival at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Monday following reports of inappropriate behavior by a male passenger in mid-air.

Flight UA516 departed Atlanta, Georgia, bound for Chicago, Illinois, on October 26 when the cabin crew were made aware of the alleged indecent behaviour by a passenger.

The woman said she was shocked to see that the man in the window seat next to her was masturbating. Crew on the brief 90-minute flight, which was operated by an Airbus A319, quickly spurred into action – contacting ground operational control to request that law enforcement and airport authorities meet the aircraft upon arrival.

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