Wizz Air flight 3052 end up with an almost 18-hour delay at Luton Airport. This came after unfounded allegations of theft sparked a two-year IRS investigation. The Hungarian-operated Airbus A320-200 was preparing to depart to Tirana. Yet, it was still stationary on the runway at Dortmund Airport for 88 minutes with its passengers and cabin crew on board.
The incident began when a 28-year-old passenger reported hearing the plane’s announcements after a missing phone was called, leading staff to believe a passenger had stolen a security guard’s phone. The cabin crew promptly undertook a detailed investigation. They declared loudly and assuredly that they had discovered an illegal object on the aircraft, something that extremely frightened the passengers.
“We cannot have an item that does not belong to anyone on this flight. We cannot depart knowing that there’s something that does not belong to this flight.” – Cabin crew
Staff pulled footage from the CCTV cameras in an attempt to track down who took the phone. At the same time, they pleaded to the public for passengers to step forward voluntarily if they knew anything. Almost an hour into the hold, passengers’ tempers began to boil over. So much tension escalated that police were forced to get on the plane.
“You’re not even safe at Luton airport, somewhere you think is a safe space.” – A passenger
The situation unraveled further when a cabin crew member announced that there was no item on the plane after all, thus allowing the flight to proceed. The crew’s apology letter underscored how unprecedented, unexpected, and surprising the event is.
“It is for us as well quite a new one, we’re doing our best and we will be on our way to Tirana very soon.” – Cabin crew
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