Poor weather conditions and fuel issues caused a seven-hour delay to a British Airways flight.
Robert Alexander
Passengers delayed on the tarmac for seven hours were given a bag of pretzels instead of a meal.A passenger on board the plane told Belfast Live that the experience was “horrible.” British Airways told the outlet there was limited food because of the closure of a cargo tunnel.
Airline passengers who were left on the tarmac for seven hours received a small bag of pretzels instead of a meal while they waited.
The British Airways flight from Heathrow airport in London to Belfast was delayed on Monday because of weather conditions and fuel issues, local outlet Belfast Live reported. The plane, which landed in Belfast just before 10 p.m., was due to depart at 1.15 p.m. but did not take off until 8.53 p.m., data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.
One passenger, Gary Bell, told Belfast Live that the experience was “absolutely horrible.”
Speaking from the plane on Monday, Bell said the only food British Airways had offered the grounded passengers was a small bag of pretzels and a complimentary drink.
He said: “The only food we were given was a small bag of pretzels, there are tired, screaming kids everywhere.”
Bell added that the plane had to change pilots because of the length of the hold-up, further delaying the flight.
Representatives for British Airways did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. The airline told Belfast Live that the passengers were only offered the snack during the delay “due to the unexpected closure of a cargo tunnel at Heathrow Airport.”
The recent closure of the tunnel, which links the cargo terminal area with terminal four, was related to a safety issue, Air Cargo News reported.
This was not the first time passengers have had to deal with long delays on the tarmac with very little to eat.
In the summer, United Airlines passengers en route to Rome suffered a similar delay on the runway at Newark International Airport. One business-class passenger told Insider it felt like being taken “hostage” and flight attendants didn’t serve food and provided very little water.