EasyJet asks passengers to leave because it was ‘too heavy to take off’
A pilot on an easyJet flight to Liverpool asked if ‘up to 20’ people could leave the plane as it was ‘too heavy to take off’.
The flight had been due to take off from Arrecife Airport in Lanzarote at 9.45pm on Wednesday, but was delayed because of the plane’s weight as well as poor weather conditions.
In video footage taken by a passenger and sent to the Liverpool Echo, a pilot is heard explaining the situation to those onboard.
He said: ‘Because there are so many of you it’s a pretty heavy aircraft.
‘That heavy aircraft combined with a pretty short runway and with the current unfavourable conditions here in Lanzarote, means the aircraft is too heavy to take off.
He said he and his ‘senior first officer’ were very experienced and had ‘done this before’, adding: ‘With safety as our number one priority, there is no way, with the current wind conditions, that we could get this aircraft airborne. There are a number of factors – it’s very hot, the wind isn’t fantastic, the direction isn’t great.’
The pilot then asked if ‘up to 20’ could volunteer to leave the aircraft to make it lighter and in exchange they would receive up to €500.
A passenger in the video can be heard saying ‘I want to go home tonight’ and others seen shaking their heads.
In the end 19 passengers volunteered to leave and the plane took off shortly before 11.30pm.
According to easyJet’s flight tracker, the flight was delayed due to ‘poor weather conditions in Lanzarote’.
A spokesperson for easyJet told Metro.co.uk: ‘EasyJet can confirm that 19 passengers on flight EZY3364 from Lanzarote to Liverpool yesterday evening volunteered to travel on a later flight as a result of the aircraft being over the weight limits for the weather conditions.
‘This is a routine operational decision in these circumstances and weight restrictions are in place for all airlines for safety reasons. In the event that a flight would exceed weight limits, we ask for passengers to volunteer to transfer to a later flight free of charge which is what happened on this occasion and volunteers are provided with compensation in line with regulations.
‘The safety and welfare of our passengers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority.’
Last week a teenager was left without his wheelchair on a family trip to France after easyJet staff somehow managed to ‘lose’ it.
When Michael Cloke went to collect his chair in Paris on Tuesday, airline workers told him they had no idea where it was.
The 17-year-old needs the chair because he suffers from a heart condition that causes severe fatigue.
Four days later, no one at easyJet had managed to find it.
He’d checked the vital wheelchair into the hold before leaving Edinburgh with his mother Gillian Clark, who said being without it was having a ‘major impact’ on their trip.
She said it had ‘derailed’ their plans and forced her son to borrow wheelchairs at some of the major landmarks in the French capital.
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