A Chester businessman caught up in two aircraft bomb hoaxes has spoken of his distressing experience but says terrorism won’t put him off flying.
The man, known on Twitter as The Joe Smoe who regularly posts nostalgia pictures of Chester, was travelling to Los Angeles for a business trip via Paris, just three days after a series of terror attacks killed more than 120 people in the city.
Despite concerns from his family, he went ahead with the trip and on landing at Charles De Gaulle airport, was greeted by a group of French soldiers who told passengers they could not go any further because a suspicious package had been found, leaving the area in lockdown.
It took about 30 minutes for the situation to be resolved and ‘Joe’ was able to safely fly to Los Angeles, where hours later he saw on the news that the AF65 Airbus flight he was due to make his journey home on had been diverted to Salt Lake City because of an anonymous bomb threat.
“I felt lightning couldn’t strike twice but as it was a global news incident, you can imagine it caused much anxiety to my family back home,” he told The Chronicle.
“My flight ended up being uneventful, other than being delayed due to the inbound aircraft being delayed from Paris. I then had a short connection from Paris to Manchester, which was also delayed by about 20 minutes.
“During the flight we were all asked if anyone had mislaid a laptop before it was announced that we must turn all electrical items off to comply with FAA rules, even if they were in flight mode, which I thought was bit strange. I realised that we had flown over Manchester airport, something else I thought was strange as it’s not the normal flight path. As well as this all the safety, reading lights had been turned off,” he explained.
Upon landing the plane braked sharply and stopped on the runway, leading ‘Joe’, a seasoned traveller, to think there had perhaps been an electrical fault with the plane.
“After about 5 minutes on the runway, the captain came on to say that because nobody had claimed the laptop they had to treat it a suspicious and were awaiting further information,” he recalls.
“Then we saw a large number of security, police and fire vehicles gathering around the aircraft outside the vehicle.
“Despite this, everyone was very calm, it was around another 30 minutes when we received some more information that we were going to be bused to a separate terminal, and we would be asked questions by the police. People were asking ‘if it’s a bomb, why are we still on board?” but most were calm.
“When I was finally interviewed all they wanted to know was my name, address and phone number, and they explained what had happened.Wwhen I asked what would happen next, they said, a bus would be along to take us to the terminal to collect our luggage.
"Passengers with checked in luggage had to wait another 15 minutes, and we were told our baggage was waiting in the terminal, which was not the case, the luggage took over another one and a half hours to arrive.
“While I understand safety is priority, a major concern for me was why did Air France fly, when the cabin was not sterile, especially in this time of tightened security - it must have been there for at least two flights. The aircraft should have been checked before the next flight to ensure nothing has been left from the previous flight.
“I fully agree with the precautions and evacuation of the aircraft, but the way passengers were delayed because of the luggage meant many incurred additional costs, such as waiting taxis or car park fees.
“My experience highlights how vulnerable airlines are to these type of threats which can cause major disruptions to everyone involved. I believe we all have to be fully vigilant, and the recent events will certainly not prevent me from flying."
