A passenger told La Repubblica that a British Airways crew member sobbed during a series of mishaps that resulted in a 29-hour flight delay.
According to an Italian newspaper, there were about 180 passengers scheduled to board the flight from Naples International Airport in Italy to London Heathrow Airport in the UK at 9:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
According to Simple Flying, the staff and passengers boarded the aircraft, as usual, however, the captain informed them that the jet was unable to take off due to a problem that occurred in one of the electronic screens in the cockpit.
The timeline of the delay
According to Simple Flying, passengers were asked to disembark at 12:14 p.m. to eat lunch in the terminal building and return at 2:50 p.m. But once back on board, the plane still didn’t take off.
The pilot continued to make announcements, although they were unclear. The flight crew alternately cited mechanical difficulties and heavy traffic over London Heathrow as the causes of the ongoing delay.
According to Simple Flying, the flight was cancelled at 5 p.m., and passengers were once more asked to disembark. They were then informed that they had been changed to a flight leaving at 12:30 PM on Thursday, using the same aircraft as their original flight.
On the plane, passengers were given hotel accommodations on Wednesday night, according to Paola Capobianco of La Repubblica. They had to go through airport security again the next day and waited in line for around two hours, according to Capobianco.
However, there were more delays after boarding the rescheduled aircraft, and Capobianco claimed that during the commotion, a member of the flight crew began to cry.
According to information from the flight-tracking service FlightAware, the plane touched down at Heathrow at 4:40 p.m. local time. This occurred more than 29 hours past the time of its intended arrival, which was at 11 a.m.
British Airways’ representative apologized for the inconvenience
A British Airways member told Insider, “We apologized to our customers for the delay to their journey due to a technical issue with one of our aircraft. The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and we would never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so.”
This summer’s airline operations have been in shambles as a result of a combination of terrible weather, technological difficulties, and staffing shortages. As a result, there have been aircraft delays, cancellations, lengthy security queues, and baggage loss.
British Airways to reduce flights as the winter season arrives
British Airways announced on Monday that it would cancel further flights up until the end of October and alter its winter schedule in response to Heathrow airport’s decision to cap capacity in an effort to combat widespread disruption. According to Sky News, the 8% reduction in total capacity would affect almost 10,000 flights during the winter timetable, which runs until the end of March.
Many airports and airlines in Europe struggled to hire enough workers to handle check-ins and baggage when post-lockdown travel began to pick up. British Airways had earlier this month stopped selling tickets for short-haul flights leaving from London Heathrow before the middle of August.
Due to a staffing deficit, British Airways’ main hub at Heathrow has limited the number of passengers who can depart from the airport. One of the busiest airports in the world, Heathrow has struggled to keep up with the demands of an escalating passenger volume. Their overburdened baggage handling system has caused significant delays in returning luggage.