Call of Duty chat gets a Frontier Airlines plane evacuated

Authorities ordered the plane and the eastern part of Terminal 2 to be evacuated. Officers, firefighters and an explosives team turned up, and the passenger was detained and questioned.

What was the passenger actually talking about?

He told police he was on FaceTime with a friend who was playing Call of Duty. The friend had just been killed in the game by a C4 charge, and that was the bomb and explosion in question.

Officers didn't take his word for it. They contacted the friend on the other end of the call, and both accounts matched: it was about a video game, not a real threat.

Was anything found?

No. Police searched the aircraft and the area around it, including with a dog trained to detect explosives. They found no bomb and nothing dangerous, and concluded that no crime had been committed.

Passengers were allowed back on board once the check was done. The detained man was released and could continue his journey, and the plane left without further incident.

The practical lesson is simple. If you play or discuss a game with someone while waiting at the gate, ask them to skip the play-by-play, or at least switch to chess or Tetris.