EasyJet wheelchair passengers left stranded after plane leaves without them

Three easyJet passengers requiring wheelchair assistance were left stranded on the tarmac after a plane took off without them.

Liz Weir, a well-known author and storyteller, was among the passengers who watched in disbelief as the plane reversed at Belfast International Airport on Friday afternoon.

The 73-year-old said she arrived at the airport at 10.30am for her 1pm flight from Northern Ireland to Edinburgh, where she was due to host an event the same day.

Mrs Weir, from County Antrim, requires a wheelchair due to a heart condition, meaning she had to wait until all the other passengers had boarded first.

But as she was escorted to the stairs, they were pulled away and the pilot ‘shook his head’ as he gave ‘a signal’ indicating she could not board.

Two other passengers also stayed behind.

“It is completely discriminatory what has happened,” she told The Irish News. “And to make matters worse, the plane took off with my suitcase still on it.”

Ms Weir told the BBC she did not arrive in the Scottish capital until 8.50pm due to a lack of available seats on the following flights – and did not arrive in the city center itself until 11pm.

She said: “I was desperate because I had to get on that plane to go to my gig last night, which of course I missed.

“People had bought tickets and were waiting there for me, but I didn’t make it.”

The ordeal left both her and another abandoned wheelchair passenger feeling “really, really stressed,” she said.

“You just don’t believe this is possible,” she added. “But I also didn’t think it was possible for them to take luggage and not take the passenger.”

She also wrote on X that it left her in tears. ‘I have cried. A lot of!’ she wrote. ‘And noisy. Not good for stress levels.’

An easyJet spokesperson said: ‘We are very sorry that flight EZY55 from Belfast to Edinburgh departed on Friday 21 June without three passengers being escorted by the airport’s special assistance provider.

‘We have urgently contacted the provider and our ground handling team to understand why this has happened.

‘We are doing everything we can to help passengers, arranging flights to Glasgow and Edinburgh later in the evening to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible, and our team looked after them throughout and provided them with refreshment vouchers while they waited for their destination. new flight.

‘We will also process the compensation they owe.

‘The well-being of our customers is our top priority and we deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.’

In other air travel-related nightmares, a British Airways flight from London to Texas last week made it all the way to Canada before turning around and going all the way back to Britain due to a technical glitch.

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