Passengers were left fuming and staged a walk-off from a diverted plane after being told they could not enter Spain and would instead be flown straight back to the UK. There were chaotic scenes onboard easyJet flight EZY8793, which landed at Malaga airport late on Monday evening.
The aircraft had been due to land in Gibraltar, but bad weather meant crew were forced to divert. After being held onboard for two hours, passengers say they were told only those with “Spanish residency or visas” could disembark “because of Brexit.”
All others were to remain onboard the plane and then transferred to another aircraft for a return flight to Luton. Jay Pedersen, 37, from Stourport, described the situation as: “It was shambolic. They kept telling us buses were coming in ‘ten minutes’ but they never showed.”
“Eventually the cabin crew, who were doing their best, made an announcement saying there would be two groups – those with British passports were being kept onboard and flown back to Luton. It was like they were keeping us hostage. But quite a lot of British people at the front did manage to get off despite being told they couldn’t. It was like a polite British ‘mutiny’.
Jay told the Mirror: “When we got to passport control our passports were stamped and we were allowed through without any problems whatsoever. I can’t believe how calm everyone stayed.”
Douglas Atkins, 74, from Solihull also shared his experience, adding: “There was only one guy aboard – who must have been a doctor – who raised his voice shouting: ‘I’ve got a patient to see I’m getting off.’ He was one of 30 or so who successfully got to the terminal.”
He continued: “The crew were young but doing as well as they could as they were clearly getting instructions from their HQ. No one could understand why we weren’t allowed to get off and be taken by buses to Gibraltar.”
Passengers who managed to disembark are said to have taken taxis for the two-hour journey to Gibraltar, with fares reaching up to 200 euros.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “Due to thunderstorms in Gibraltar we can confirm that flight EZY8793 from London Gatwick to Gibraltar was required to divert to Malaga where onwards ground transport to Gibraltar was arranged for customers. Two passengers onboard who did not have the required documentation to enter Spain returned to London and we transferred them on to the next available flight to Gibraltar.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.”