Bomb scare on Prince William's flight to NZ

Prince William was at the centre of a bomb scare on an Air New Zealand flight between Los Angeles and Auckland last week.

The pilot of the aircraft considered turning the plane back after a mobile phone was found just metres from the Prince, by cabin crew on the Air New Zealand flight.

The phone was found 20 minutes into the Los Angeles-Auckland leg of the trip from London.

Captain David Morgan, Air New Zealand's chief pilot and general manager of operational standards and safety, said: "About an hour into the flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, a crew member identified a cellphone in an ice bucket.

"The cellphone appeared to belong to the catering company that provides food for the flight. Nevertheless, security procedures were implemented to assess whether the phone posed a safety risk.

"Concurrently, the catering company was contacted and confirmed the phone belonged to one of its staff members.

"As a result, the cellphone, which appears to have fallen from a caterer's pocket, was deemed not to be a risk to customer or staff safety.

"Therefore, the flight carried on as planned - and without incident - to Auckland."

One of the passengers on the flight, Annabel Warner, said the majority of her fellow passengers - who were mainly Lions supporters from Wales - were not even aware of the bomb scare.

She said the Prince and his entourage of five were further up the aircraft in business class, apparently oblivious too.

"A few people were panicking but the rest of the passengers had no idea," she said.

"I only knew about it because an air steward revealed it was a bomb scare. The whole thing was fairly scary but they assured me they knew where the phone had come from.

"Even so, you never know how security can be breached."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY