Passengers on United Airlines flight UA236 on Saturday were subjected to deplaning, TSA rescreening, and over 10 hours of delays thanks to a foolish teen’s Bluetooth speaker name. Air Traveler Club (ATC) says that a passenger on the jet between Newark and Palma de Mallorca, Spain, spotted a Bluetooth device named ‘BOMB’ and reported it to a flight attendant, sparking the emergency bomb threat protocol. Authorities are investigating whether the teen's Bluetooth speaker naming was a prank or a deliberate provocation.
After the member of the air crew was alerted to the 'BMB' device on board, FAA security protocols were enacted, with the pilots squawking the 7700 emergency transponder code to air traffic control. This happened approximately two hours after departure, with the plane at roughly 32,000 feet, over the Atlantic at a longitude coinciding with Nova Scotia. The plane with 200 passengers onboard was turned around to return to Newark airport.
