Airlines

Stranded Vacationers Protest At Brussels Airport, Trigger Chaos

Whereas it’s common to see passengers get offended when there are irregular operations, it’s not typically you see motion like this, as first reported by Aviation24.

Brussels Airways flight to Cameroon returns to Brussels

This incident began on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, and entails Brussels Airways flight SN369. Particularly, this flight was scheduled to function from Brussels (BRU) to Cameroon, with stops in each Douala (DLA) and Yaounde (NSI). The flight was operated by a roughly 12-year-old Airbus A330-300 with the license plate OO-SFX.

The flight departed as scheduled, and for roughly the primary half-hour operated as deliberate, ultimately leveling off at 32,000 ft. Nevertheless, at this level the pilots found a technical fault, and made the choice to return to Brussels.

The airplane ended up spending almost three hours in a holding sample close to the airport (presumably to burn off gasoline), after which lastly landed again at Brussels Airport roughly 4 hours after it initially departed.

The Brussels Airways flight that diverted to Brussels
The Brussels Airways flight that diverted to Brussels

Upon returning to Brussels Airport, passengers had been hoping that they’d quickly get rebooked on one other flight, however that’s not how the scenario performed out. Brussels Airways wasn’t in a position to function a substitute flight, and different flight choices had been booked. This meant that almost all passengers had been stranded, and a few weren’t allowed to enter the nation, that means they had been caught within the terminal.

Passengers trigger chaos at Brussels Airport

Typically you’ll see passengers get a bit aggressive and offended at airport employees in conditions the place there are delays, however the passengers on this flight took a special method. They determined to stage a sit-in protest by basically blockading entry to the B concourse. This fashion different passengers wouldn’t be capable of make their flights, and the hope was that the airline would pay extra consideration to them.

This allegedly brought on chaos within the terminal, with hundreds of vacationers being stranded. Finally the airport arrange buses to get folks to those gates.

https://twitter.com/EURASEANEDU/standing/1600769064133349376

Right here’s how a spokesperson for Brussels Airport defined the scenario:

“On Wednesday night, a Brussels Airways plane (an Airbus A330 registered OO-SFX) vacation spot Cameroon was compelled to return to Brussels Airport because of a technical drawback. In consequence, the plane might not return to Douala and the information was not effectively acquired by some passengers within the transit zone. When the passengers found that they couldn’t proceed their journey on Thursday morning as a result of the flight was absolutely booked and that they don’t seem to be allowed to go away the transit space, they determined to dam the entry of pier B to all passengers.”

So far as I do know, most passengers nonetheless haven’t been rebooked on different flights, so I can perceive the frustration.

Backside line

A Brussels Airways flight to Cameroon needed to return to Brussels because of a technical subject. The flight ended up having to circle for hours, earlier than passengers ultimately landed again in Brussels. The difficulty is that passengers weren’t given rebooking choices, and plenty of passengers discovered themselves stranded within the terminal.

Out of frustration, passengers determined to stage a protest of types, blockading entry to part of the terminal for all passengers.

In fact that’s not honest to those that had flights to catch, however on some stage I type of respect the technique these passengers took. Primarily stranding folks in a terminal with no different flights and no lodging is a troublesome scenario to be in, and this introduced some consideration to this case.

What do you make of this Brussels Airport protest?



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