SEATTLE, Washington – On one of the most tense days for flying – 9/11 – a Southwest Airlines 737 flight had to be delayed due to a bomb threat made by a passenger.
Southwest Airlines flight 3677 was scheduled to fly out of Seattle, Washington, at 11:34 a.m. headed for Denver, Colorado. But not long after leaving the gate, the airline captain notified the tower that there was a potential onboard threat to security.
The aircraft was directed to taxi to a remote area of the airport, where it remained for nearly 4 hours.
One of the passengers had turned his electronic device into a hot spot and other passengers noticed he was using odd hot spots names, such as “Southwest – bomb on board,” and then changing that to “The bomb is on this seat.” He then later changed that name to something about the flight attendant being hot.
The passenger was removed from the plane and questioned by police and the FBI.
Flight 3677 was allowed back to the gate where passengers and their luggage had to go through screening again at the terminal before they were allowed to re-board the plane.
The flight arrived in Denver at 4:15 pm before departing on its next leg to Omaha, Nebraska.
The plane originally had 134 passengers and 5 crew members on board. According to reports, the flight left with 128 passengers onboard. It is not known if a few of the other passengers decided to reschedule on different flights.
