A woman’s flight to Morocco from Manchester Airport was forced to make an emergency landing for an unusual reason, all thanks to one passenger’s “selfish act”, causing chaos on board
A woman has shared the perplexing story of how her flight from Manchester made a surprise landing, in an issue that has happened multiple times on flights with thoughtless passengers.
Zara showed just how chaotic the scenes were on her recent flight, opening up about her experience when the journey she was taking was brought to an abrupt halt, making an emergency landing. Posting to TikTok, she shared how an incident that took place on her flight from Manchester Airport to Morocco left her in shock.
While there are plenty of travel horror stories and flight drama, this incident seemed to leave passengers pretty floored.
Over the clip, Zara wrote: “To whoever smoked a cigarette on my flight from Manchester to Morocco, which caused us to emergency land in Gatwick Airport, surrounded by police and fire engines, I hope it was worth it.”
The clip soon gained traction, going completely viral online, and has since been viewed over one million times. Hundreds of users were quick to flood the comments with their views on the out-of-pocket moment, reports the Manchester Evening News
One person shared: “Damn, that person couldn’t wait for a three-hour flight.” While another person chimed in to say: “Some people are so selfish. All the money you pay to go abroad.”
Meanwhile, one person commented: “As a fellow smoker, it really shouldn’t be hard to not smoke for, like, a three- to four-hour flight.” Another wrote: “Should get a blanket ban on all airlines. It’s the only way this message will get across.”
A riled-up user chimed in to say how, even being a “smoker”, they were able to manage a 10-hour flight without a cigarette. They wrote: “If I can do it, so can they. I feel for everyone on that flight.”
Zara updated viewers that after being escorted off of the plane, passengers were made to wait in an airport lounge for several hours before eventually receiving an update. They were told that they would now be staying overnight in Gatwick as a result of the cabin crew working hours. The passenger also confirmed that the airline did pay for those whose flights were disrupted to have bed and breakfast before their second attempt to fly to Morocco.
Overall, planes tend to make an emergency landing in a situation that poses an immediate threat to safety, whether that be a serious mechanical issue, an onboard fire, a severe medical situation or even harsh weather conditions. When an emergency is declared, the flight is given priority to make a safe landing at the nearest suitable airport, which in this case was Gatwick.
What this passenger didn’t appear to expect was that smoking on an aeroplane can trigger an emergency landing. This isn’t as a result of the smoking itself causing a full emergency descent, but because it goes against most airlines’ strict no-smoking policies.
Smoking mid-air can lead to disruptive behaviour and put the plane at huge risk of a fire, so much so that if a passenger is caught smoking even in the lavatory, a plane can be disrupted. It’s expected that the aircraft will be diverted to the nearest airport and the culprit will be not only removed from the flight but also detained at the airport. This highlights just how important it is to follow the airline’s rules when travelling abroad.
