Frontier Airlines passenger overhears a terrifying conversation at a California airport, then the whole terminal has to be evacuated

Passengers at the Inland Empire’s Ontario International Airport in California were ordered to evacuate after one passenger on board a Frontier Airlines flight allegedly said they had overheard someone say, “he had a bomb in his backpack.”

According to an article from The New York Post, the passenger overheard the suspicious conversation just before the Frontier Airlines flight was due to take off. Flight crew later informed authorities, and the Ontario Police Department, Ontario Fire Department, and bomb squad arrived on the scene around 10 p.m.

Ontario Police Department Public Information Officer Denyse Quezada said police detained a suspect at the scene. “Officers located and detained the subject in questioning, confirming that he was in possession of a backpack and had no other luggage,” they said.

The suspect was questioned and allegedly told officers that he had been on FaceTime with a friend who he said was playing an online shooter game. “The friend was playing a video game called ‘Call of Duty,’ and had just been eliminated by an in-game C4 explosion,” Quezada said. “The subject’s statement was related to a video game and not an actual explosive.” Investigators also called the friend to corroborate the suspect’s story.

Threats in airports

Bomb threats in airports and on airplanes are taken seriously by TSA and flight staff and can have consequences. According to Northcott Global Solutions, even fake bomb threats can result in grounded flights. In the past, passengers who have falsely implied that they were carrying an explosive or mentioned the word “bomb” have been banned from flights. 

In one case from last year, a Vietnamese passenger received a $160 fine after telling staff he was carrying a bomb in jest. Another case saw a 19-year-old with Tourettes banned from a flight after repeatedly saying the word “bomb” in the airport, according to ABC News.

The passengers aboard the Frontier Airlines flight weren’t the only ones evacuated from the airport. The New York Post reported that a portion of the airport was also partially evacuated.

Ontario International Airport spokesperson Steve Lambert said that an incident in T2 with one passenger led to the terminal being cleared of passengers. “Out of an abundance of caution, the east side of the terminal was cleared and flights were held during the investigation. The investigation is complete and operations are now resuming,” he said.

The plane and the surrounding grounds were also investigated by a bomb-sniffing K-9 team, which found no signs of explosives. Following the investigation, all passengers were allowed to board the plane again except the passenger who made the bomb comment.