Passenger detained after creating disturbing 'Bomb on Board' WiFi hotspot name

southwest flight delayed after passenger bomb threat on 9/11

A plane passenger caused a flight to be delayed on 9/11 when he was detained after using disturbing names for his WiFi hot spot.

Other flyers noticed that the man was using strange hot spot names, such as 'Southwest – Bomb on Board'.

The Southwest Airlines 737 flight from Seattle to Denver had just left the gate when the captain notified the tower that there was a potential treat to security.

Speaking to ABC News, passenger Ken Saldi said: "He changed it to 'the bomb is on this seat,' and then he changed it to something about the stewardess being hot.

"And so that's why once we found all that stuff out we realised he was probably just goofing off."

But authorities did not take the threat lightly and the plane was ordered to a side and the man was arrested and questioned by the FBI.

Passenger Joshua Mutart said: "I just hope he gets prosecuted to the fullest extent. That's kind of what I was thinking, just disrupting all the people on the flight."

eTurboNews reports that after all passengers were removed from the flight, their luggage had to be screened again, with some checked by dogs, before they could re-board the plane.

The plane originally had 134 passengers on board but left with 128 passengers. It was not clear whether the other passengers had rescheduled on different flights.

Southwest Airlines said its "highest priority is the safety and security" of passengers and staff.