5 passengers delay flight take-off, go unpunished
Print Edition
Five passengers, who obstructed a flight from taking-off, escaped without punishment despite delaying the flight for close to two hours.
Hebei Airlines’ Flight NS3242 picked up passengers at Chongqing’s Jiangbei airport for Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province on August 8.
Five passengers refused to board the flight and delayed the departure by blocking the towing vehicle in front of the aircraft, reported the Southern Metropolis Daily.
Their anger reportedly was over the non-availability of “VIP pick-up service” entitled to them as first class passengers. They were furious as they were clubbed along with other economy class passengers on the shuttle bus.
The five, who are said to be related to each other, refused to board the flight and started squabbling with the ground crew even after all the other passengers had boarded.
The scheduled departure time was 10:10pm.
“But even after 10:10pm the aircraft door was still open,” said Wang Qi, an economy class passenger on the flight. “We were getting impatient and were told by staff that a few passengers were refusing to board the flight.”
The pilot coordinated with the control tower and asked the crew to shut the doors after 30 minutes. But the five passengers held on to the wheels of a towing vehicle in front of the aircraft, thus delaying the flight.
The flight finally took off at 11:54pm — an hour and 44 minutes later than scheduled — without the five after police intervened.
Hebei Airlines put them on another flight the same night, The Beijing Times reported. They could have faced up to 500 yuan (US$81.65) fine or detained for five to 10 days but the airlines chose not to file label charges against them.
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