this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
361 points (97.9% liked)

Not The Onion

21619 readers
846 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, ableist, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
kescusay@lemmy.world
361
United flight forced to turn around because of a Bluetooth speaker name (www.theverge.com)
submitted 2 days ago by resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
137 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/47299437

United flight 236 from Newark to Palma de Mallorca on Saturday night was forced to turn around just an hour after takeoff due to security concerns around a Bluetooth signal. Multiple Redditors claimed to be on the flight and reported that the crew repeatedly requested passengers to turn off their Bluetooth. According to one poster, […]

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Lupus108@sh.itjust.works 13 points 12 hours ago

Slightly off topic - I work at a music festival as a stage tech sometimes. One time on this small festival, in the middle of the night, I was enjoying a after work beer and a bartender came up to me and asked 'you're the sound guy right? We have trouble connecting with the Bluetooth speaker in the bar.' - not really my expertise but I'll have a look, sure.

It was only because we were standing next to each other checking the Bluetooth devices on our phones and it was on different spots in the list on the respective phone that I realized that the device was named 'not connected'.

[–] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 28 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I read this on another outlet, and they had the audacity to blame United for "yet another incident". This isn't United's fault. When you name your bt device "bomb" and the flight attendants ask several times to turn off Bluetooth, turn the damn thing off. Don't be a shitwanker, and keep it on. I swear. People are such assholes everywhere.

[–] Someone8765210932@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Often (cheap) Bluetooth devices can't be renamed, can they?

Besides apparently there are even speakers that are named "bomb" straight from the factory. Both this speaker here, that some say is the one the teenager used and even a hama speaker with the default Bluetooth name "Hama bomb 3.0".

Sorry, but when someone can even buy speakers named bomb from a reputable company, you can't really blame some teenager. Supposedly (according to what I read) the speakers weren't in the carry-on and turned themselves on accidentally. Even a stupid teenager who wanted to do this as a prank probably would have gotten cold feet the moment the announcement came and shut the device off if they could, so I don't think it is impossible to have happened this way.

[–] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 1 points 59 minutes ago

The attendants asked for the device to be turned off. Cheap bt devices may not be able to be renamed, but they can be turned off. But if they were in the carryon and turned themselves on, and it was a mistake, it's absolutely forgivable.

[–] Candice_the_elephant@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Could have been a prank played on a passenger who had no idea, I hope.

[–] JennaR8r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Imagine a technologically illiterate person about to get on a flight, had just been visiting with relatives among whom was a mischievous tech-savvy* cousin who wanted to play one last prank.

  • At least tech savvy enough to break into cousin's phone and insert a mischievous Bluetooth word
[–] Candice_the_elephant@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

That's exactly what I thought. If someone didn't respond to the repeated requests, perhaps they didn't know. Wicked prank for someone about to fly.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 35 points 1 day ago (3 children)

friendly reminder that what you think is a clever WiFi or Bluetooth name probably isn’t

Nonsense, Your Honor. As evidence I present Promised LAN, Nacho Wifi, and Hurts When IP.

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I like the use of the phrase "forced to turn around." They chose to turn around because somebody had a string of letters on their bluetooth name that they didn't feel comfortable with. WTF would they do with a passenger in a Che Guevara T shirt?

[–] Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 12 hours ago

And it's not like turning around wouldn't have made the "bomb" (if there WAS one) to blow up.

[–] 0x0@infosec.pub 11 points 1 day ago

8hz_wan_ip

[–] Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

what's wrong with GIANTPENIS69?

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 14 points 1 day ago

"This_Hotspot_is_DA_BOMB"

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

paywalled, btw

before anyone bothers

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Just hold down ESC while it loads. Secret l33t haxxor trick, don't tell anyone.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I tried that on my phone and I couldn't find the ESC button...

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

up down up down left right left right A B

[–] bhamlin@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

No, that's the code for a screen shot...

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Was it this https://hellottec.com/product/bomb-portable-bluetooth-speaker-2bh15

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I suspect the personality profiles of people with who would make the joke of calling their bluetooth device "bomb" and people who would blow up an airplane full of people is almost diametrically opposite.

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

You'd think so, but they don't realize that.

I like how they think turning it around would even change anything??? Like, just dumb.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 12 hours ago

I suspect it's a bit more of Security Theatre

[–] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

My mother used to have a Bluetooth speaker in our car that she took with her. It wasn't deliberately shaped that way, but with the silhouette, the color, and the volume it produced, we ended up dubbing it 'the hand grenade'.

After the hand grenade finally broke, my mother got a nice JVC speaker, a long cylinder. It was promptly named 'the pipe bomb'.

For context, my mother is the most bland, inoffensive Midwest Christian white lady you will ever meet. She has an unusual sense of humor that comes out in the strangest ways. She laughed her ass off all the way through the FNAF games because she thought the animatronics were funny.

I think the TSA just hates people with a personality, period.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] murvel@feddit.nu 130 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Multiple Redditors claimed to be on the flight

The real reason for the turn-around

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 32 points 1 day ago

must have smelled so bad

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] kayohtie@pawb.social 26 points 1 day ago

The real reason is because some jackass turned their Bluetooth speaker on during a flight.

[–] 8oow3291d@feddit.dk 40 points 1 day ago (11 children)

That is one of the most bizarre articles I have ever read. Why in the world are we not allowed to know what the "four letter word" is?

[–] cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 day ago

"lmao"?

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] cybervseas@lemmy.world 144 points 2 days ago (24 children)

Someone named the speaker "bomb".

load more comments (24 replies)
[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you named a Bluetooth speaker “Just an ordinary Bluetooth speaker, nothing to see here”, would that be seen as an implied terrorist threat?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 79 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (10 children)

Just changed my phone's Bluetooth name to "Not A Bomb". Hopefully no one is confused by it.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] bstix@feddit.dk 30 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I guess you need to rename all your Bluetooth bombs before flying now. Thanks Obama.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›