Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Wi-Fi prank sparks explosion fears on Virgin flight

A PRANKSTER sparked explosion fears on Virgin flight, with the pilot threatening to divert the plane mid-flight.

Crew and passengers believed a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was being used somewhere on the flight.

A PRANKSTER caused chaos on Virgin flight after switching the name of their wi-fi hotspot to “Galaxy Note 7_1097,” which led crew and passengers to believe the device was being used somewhere on the flight.

As The Sun reports, Galaxy Note 7 phones are banned from planes after they began mysteriously catching fire.

Samsung were forced to recall the smartphones and have “bricked” those left out in the wild after reports of them bursting into flames in people’s pockets and hands.

Lucas Wojciechowski was on Virgin America flight 358 from San Francisco to Boston when he spotted the wi-fi hotspot on his laptop.

Open my laptop on the plane and notice a Galaxy Note 7 wifi hotspot https://t.co/y1csn9gOsZ pic.twitter.com/9Z5IJULuPs

— Lucas Wojciechowski (@lucaswoj) December 20, 2016

About an hour into the flight there's an announcement "If anyone has a Galaxy Note 7, please press your call button"

— Lucas Wojciechowski (@lucaswoj) December 20, 2016

After the crew was alerted, Mr Wojciechowski live-tweeted the panicked announcements from the pilot, who threatened to divert the plane.

an additional 15 minutes later "This is the captain speaking..."

— Lucas Wojciechowski (@lucaswoj) December 20, 2016

Apparently the plane is going to have to get diverted & searched if nobody fesses up soon 😬

— Lucas Wojciechowski (@lucaswoj) December 20, 2016

The mischief-maker later confessed that there was no Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on board, but that they had just changed their SSID wireless device as a joke.

According to Mr Wojciechowski the crew announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, we found the device. Luckily only the name of the device was changed to ‘Galaxy Note 7’. It was not a GN7.”

Virgin Media have said the flight was not delayed by the incident and confirmed there was no Galaxy Note 7 on-board.

This story first appeared on The Sun.

Originally published as Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Wi-Fi prank sparks explosion fears on Virgin flight