Here’s your reminder that faking a terrorist threat is a bad idea
A Twitter user found out the hard way Sunday morning that airlines have to take threats seriously — even ones made jokingly online.
User @QueenDemetriax_, apparently belonging to a 14-year-old named Sarah, tweeted at American Airlines at 10:37 a.m. Sunday, “hello my name’s Ibrahim and I’m from Afghanistan. I’m part of Al Qaida and on June 1st I’m gonna do something really big bye.”
American Airlines responded at 10:43 a.m., “Sarah, we take these threats very seriously. Your IP address and details will be forwarded to security and the FBI.”
Sarah tried to backtrack, but didn’t get another response from the airline. American Airlines has since deleted its tweet — possibly because the account’s “IP address and details” aren’t readily available to the general public and would have to be requested by law enforcement.
Of course, there’s no guarantee the account actually belongs to a teenager named Sarah, although previous tweets from the account seem to match that profile. But the tweet was a bad idea regardless of who the Internet troll was.
American Airlines hasn’t responded to requests for comment, yet.
Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @stephgrimes
