Passenger prevents lengthy delay – fixes faulty plane

by Scott Carmichael on

A passenger on a Thomas Cook flight became the hero of the day when he was able to fix a fault on the plane that was scheduled to bring him and his fellow passengers back home from Menorca.

The plane had developed a fault and was destined to be stuck at the airport for 8 hours awaiting the arrival of a UK based mechanic.

Instead of waiting for this, the passenger identified himself as a licensed mechanic with an affiliate of the airline, and was cleared to perform the maintenance work.

After a brief repair, the plane was on its way back home with just a 35 minute delay, instead of the 10 or 11 hours it would have taken if the plane was made to wait on the UK mechanic.

From now on, I’d like the airlines to load a mechanic on any of my flights, along with a doctor and a decent chef. The airline announced that they were “very grateful he was on the flight that day”. I’m sure the passengers share that sentiment.

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Scared passengers boycott airline after being asked to help “balance the plane”

by Scott Carmichael on

Seventy terrified passengers refused to board their Thomas Cook plane in Mallorca, Spain this week because the airline had asked them to all sit in the back of the plane.

During its time on the ground, baggage workers were unable to open the rear cargo door of the plane, and had to load all the luggage in the front – requiring passengers to act as ballast in the rear to keep the plane balanced.

The seventy passengers were afraid that the stuck cargo door would pop open during the flight, and many of them paid 100’s of pounds to fly home with other airlines. One passenger paid $1000 to fly his family home.

Adding to the “horror” of the incident were passengers who had arrived on the same plane, who told departing passengers that they had just experienced “the worst flight of their lives”.

The airline said it was a normal operating procedure and that it was disappointed to hear that passengers decided not to travel, despite reassurances from the crew and captain.

Planeload of drunk Irish passengers creates havoc on Cuba bound flight

by Scott Carmichael on

In what can only be described as Déjà vu, 40 Irish passengers bound for Cuba created a riot on their Thomas Cook flight.

The group filled up on booze, harassing and punching fellow passengers, and one of them even went so far as to attempt opening the emergency exit mid-flight.

One terrified passenger ended up sitting with the flight attendants in the galley for 5 hours just to get away from the ruckus.

According to the (sketchy) report, the hooligans continued their drunken rioting at their resort, and even on the return flight. 17 of them were actually barred from boarding the flight back home to London Gatwick, but the article does not mention what their fate was, so for all we know, they are still stuck in Cuba.
After reading the story, and the reports from passengers on the flight, I’d say the group was lucky they were not on a US flight carrying federal air marshals. If a drunk fool started smoking and punching fellow passengers on a commercial flight in this country, I’d hate to think what would happen to them, but I’m fairly sure it would not be the weak “investigating events with a view to a possible complaint to police” reported in the source article.

(Via: Daily Mail)

More troublemakers in the sky