Oy: Man Misses Spirit Airlines Flight, Calls In Bomb Threat To Delay It

It amazes me that people think these kinds of situations are going to end in their favor (thanks to PYOK for flagging this)…

Desperate Spirit passenger calls in bomb threat

A 23-year-old named John Charles Robinson has been charged with reporting a false bomb threat, which potentially carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.

This incident unfolded at around 6:25AM on June 5, 2025, as he was supposed to take Spirit Airlines flight NK2145 from Detroit (DTW) to Los Angeles (LAX), which was scheduled to depart at 7AM.

So he used his cell phone to call Spirit’s reservations phone number, and convey false information about a bomb threat. During the call, he claimed “there’s gonna be someone who’s gonna try to blow up the airport,” and “there’s gonna be someone that’s gonna try to blow up that flight, 2145.”

He then provided a description of an individual, and stated “they’re going to be carrying a bomb through the TSA,” and “they’re still threatening to do it, they’re still attempted to do it, they said it’s not going to be able to be detected.” He also demanded that the flight not yet board.

The flight ended up being canceled after boarding started, and passengers and the crew were deplaned. Furthermore, bomb sniffing dogs and FBI agents were deployed to sweep the airplane. As you’d expect, no bombs or explosives were found.

Authorities soon learned that Robinson was booked on that particular flight, but missed it, and was told at the gate that he needed to rebook on a flight nearly 12 hours later. The FBI then looked at the record of the call, and saw that the cell phone used for the bomb threat was registered to him. The FBI subsequently arrested him, when he returned to the airport later in the day to depart on another flight.

Talk about absolutely awful judgment

I’m not sure what’s worse here — the level of stupidity with which this was executed, or the complete lack of concern shown for others.

Regarding the first point, if you call in a bomb threat from a cell phone registered to you, expect that it’s going to be traced to you. And if you happen to be booked on the flight and miss it, then it’s not too hard to figure out what’s going on, and what the motive was. Did the guy expect that they’d just hold off boarding, but then no longer care about the bomb threat when he arrived?

Then there’s the general lack of consideration shown for others. Of course it sucks to miss a flight, and nobody is happy about that. However, to put that above the potential to inconvenience 200+ other people really shows an astounding level of self-centeredness.

I suppose in desperate situations, people act pretty irrationally, and I suspect that’s just what happened here. But my gosh, if you’re going to do something like this (which you shouldn’t), at least try to cover your tracks a little better.

Bottom line

A Spirit Airlines passenger was going to miss his early morning Detroit to Los Angeles flight, so he decided to call in a bomb threat, claiming he had knowledge of a terror plot. As you’d expect, the flight ended up being canceled, and the aircraft was searched.

It wasn’t too hard for authorities to figure out who was behind this, given that the cell phone used for the bomb threat was also registered to one of the only people who had missed the flight that day. The man ended up being arrested after returning to the airport later in the day, and now faces some serious consequences.