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No bomb jokes in airports, airplanes: Authorities
Joking about bombs will have sanctions that include passengers being removed from the plane to being charged with imprisonment, while an airport could be temporarily closed as security measurements are taken.
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The punishment for joking about bombs in airports or airplanes ranges from being removed from the flight to prison sentences and hefty fines. (Shutterstock/Have a nice day Photo)
Bombs are no joke, especially when you are in an airport or an airplane.
Joking about bombs will have sanctions that include passengers being removed from the plane to being charged with imprisonment, while an airport could be temporarily closed as security measurements are taken.
As regulated in Law No. 1/2009 on the Transportation Ministry’s national flight safety program, anyone who expresses false information that could endanger flight safety could face a maximum of a one-year prison sentence. With bomb attacks having occurred in airports worldwide, bomb threats and bomb-related remarks are taken very seriously.
Joking about bombs can also cause other passengers to feel uncomfortable as well as flight delays.
Over the years, there have been several cases of passengers making bomb-related remarks on an airplane, with the most recent one taking place in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, on Saturday.
Read also: Passenger removed from Garuda flight over bomb joke
A Lion Air passenger reportedly uttered the word “bomb” toward a flight attendant upon boarding the plane, as quoted by kompas.com.
The JT 618 flight bound for Pangkalpinang, Bangka, was delayed, while all 148 passengers with their luggage had to be rechecked for safety reasons.
Lion Air released a statement in relation to the incident, stating: “According to the procedures, Lion Air offloaded passenger ZN and four persons traveling with him, including 10 pieces of luggage, from JT 618. ZN then faced security measures and multiple investigations from the airline’s aviation security, airport security and the police.”
Garuda Indonesia faced a similar incident in 2017 when a passenger jokingly said there was a bomb in the bag he was carrying. In 2014, a Venezuelan doctor stated he was carrying C4 explosives prior to boarding an Avianca Airlines flight from Miami to Bogota, Colombia, in humorous spirit. This caused the evacuation of the airport and hundreds of flights were delayed as the bomb squad came and swept the area. The doctor was fined $89,172 for the incident. (wng)
