Three passengers in wheelchairs who had to wait for a plane to board before boarding were reportedly left abandoned on the tarmac on Friday, despite calling the airport’s special assistance service.
“I don’t know whose fault it is in all of this, but I would like to make sure others don’t find themselves in a similar situation. Our boarding passes had been scanned, my checked baggage was on board. They must have known we were coming?” lamented British author Liz Weir, who was among the three forgotten, on Monday to “The Independent”.
Last Friday around 1 p.m., the 73-year-old woman with heart problems was scheduled to fly from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Edinburgh, Scotland, to host an event there that evening when the EasyJet airline would have made him wait with two other travelers in wheelchairs.
Except that once regular boarding was completed, the woman would have advanced to the stairs to board in turn, when the pilot would have signaled to her that this was no longer possible.
Shortly after, the plane took off in front of the stunned looks of the three travelers, who nevertheless had luggage on board.
“You always say, ‘Oh, they won’t leave without us,’ but they did. I was distraught because I had to get on this plane to get to my event which of course I missed. People had bought tickets and they were waiting for me there,” she sighed to the BBC.
For its part, EasyJet apologized to the three passengers, indicating that they will be compensated for the incident, while an investigation would have been opened to understand how they could have been left behind, even if they were accompanied by the d Special assistance from the airport.
“We are really sorry […] We have urgently contacted the supplier and our ground support team to understand why this happened. Our team looked after them and provided them with refreshment vouchers while they waited for their new flight,” a spokesperson said, according to “The Independent”.
