A pilot refused to fly a packed plane after a passenger labeled his personal WiFi Jihadist Cell London 1.
A tourist spotted the disturbing WiFi hotspot title as he boarded the Gatwick-bound Thomson plane which was due to take off from Cancun, in Mexico.
He told the cabin crew, who launched an immediate probe just hours after the Manchester terror attack.
When no one took responsibility for the WiFi name, the pilot called the police.
There was then a delay of two-and-a-half hours while officers boarded the jet and inspected passengers’ mobiles.
As word spread throughout the cabin, some passengers began crying and demanding to be left off the plane.
Sniffer dogs and armed police were called to examine the aircraft.
After security officials failed to find the culprit, the flight was canceled and all passengers sent back to a hotel for another night.
A holiday maker spoke of the terror among the passengers – who were all waiting to board another plane home knowing the flyer with the jihad phone was among them.
“As I sat in my seat I noticed one of the options for WiFi connection on my phone relating to being a jihadist. I accosted a member of cabin crew, who took my phone up to the cockpit,”a recruitment firm boss on Flight TOM039 said.
“I was moved to the front of the plane but by this time whispers were spreading through the plane about it,” he added.
The passenger, of High Wycombe, Bucks, who asked not be named, said initially the pilot announced a delay of 40 minutes because of “lax ground staff”.
“Soon the pilot confessed what the problem was and people were very uneasy. There were a lot of women in tears because of what we knew had happened earlier in Manchester. The Mexican security services were brought on to investigate but by then the WiFi hotspot name had been deleted.It took an hour to check devices and there was no food or water for passengers,” he said.
“Outside the plane we could see sniffer dogs and armed police circling the aircraft. It was scary. No one coughed to being the culprit and security couldn’t identify who was to blame, so there is a great sense of unease. It was terrifying coming on the same day as the horrifying Manchester attacks,” he added.
The Thomson pilot had pleaded with the passenger responsible for the jihadi phone to identify himself in a series of announcements from the cockpit heard by The Sun.
“Someone has something on their phone which had an extremely subversive title to it – Jihadists Cell London 1 – and obviously we have to take this kind of thing very, very seriously. Someone has managed to do this on a hot point and it is a security issue and I’m sure you’ll understand I’m not prepared to depart with something like this on the aircraft,” he said.
“The first thing I’m going to say is that if someone on this plane has that on their phone for a laugh, it would be very advantageous to you to come forward and talk to one of the cabin crew and you could save yourself a lot of time. Whatever, this is utterly unacceptable. Our security people are looking into this,” he added.
The pilot later informed passengers that the WiFi hotspot name had been deleted.
But he wasn’t prepared to fly until the culprit was identified.
He said: “If someone on here has done this, please make yourself know to the cabin crew so we can resolve this.”
In a third message from the cockpit, the pilot announced the arrival of the police on board to begin a search of passengers’ electronic kit.
He said: “We’re going to come down the left-hand side of the aircraft. They are going to ask you to switch on your electronic stuff for them to check a few things. I know it’s an infringement but we need to get this resolved. I want to go home and I’m sure you do.”