Passenger AirDrops nude photos to others on flight, pilot cautions he will cancel take-off

In response to the incident, Southwest Airlines said its highest priority was always the safety of its customers and employees. (Representational image)

A passenger on an American plane was recently found transferring nude photos to fellow travellers using Apple's AirDrop, compelling the pilot to chide them and warn that he will cancel the flight, CNN reported.

The incident took place late in August on a Southwest Airlines flight from Houston in Texas to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. One of the passengers on the plane told CNN that right after boarding the plane, she received an AirDrop notification on her phone. So did others around her.

AirDrop is a service that allows users to share documents and photos with  other Apple devices that are closeby.

Marsalis said she refused to accept the AirDrop file but two other passengers did. Then, they showed her what they had received.

"It was a nude man that had AirDropped himself to everyone," the passenger told CNN.

One of the passengers complained to a flight attendant about the unsolicited photos, who in turn reported the incident to the pilot.

After learning of the incident, the pilot said he would cancel take-off if the photo sharing did not stop.

Marsalis documented the entire incident in a TikTok video that has nearly 3 million views.

"So here's the deal, if this continues while we're on the ground I'm going to have to pull back to the gate, everybody's going to have to get off, we're going to have to get security involved and ... vacation is going to be ruined," the pilot was heard saying in the clip, according to CNN.  "So you folks, whatever that AirDrop thing is, quit sending naked pictures and let's get yourself to Cabo."

The passenger who recorded the video praised the pilot for handling the situation professionally.

In response to the incident, Southwest Airlines said its highest priority was always the safety of its customers and employees.

Incidents of disruptions on planes because of passengers' behaviour are almost always in the news.

Last week, an elderly woman had slapped a flight attendant on Jet 2, a British airline, reportedly after she was denied free champagne.

The flight from Manchester to Rhodes in Greece was then diverted to the German city of Munich, where police officers took the woman off the plane.

In May, a group of passengers had been seen kicking and punching a person on the floor of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines plane travelling from Manchester to Amsterdam. The violent passengers were arrested after the plane landed in Amsterdam.