Passengers stranded on plane for five hours as pilot tests positive for Covid

The nine-hour journey from Heathrow to Barbados lasted 17 hours, with passengers only re-boarding after it was confirmed the test result was a false positive.

Passengers stranded on plane for five hours as pilot tests positive for Covid
© Getty Images
Passengers stranded on plane for five hours as pilot tests positive for Covid

Passengers onboard a BA flight from London to Barbados had to spend more than half a day waiting after their pilot announced he had tested positive for Covid. The flight on Tuesday had to be delayed when the pilot got the results of the test while in the cockpit.

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No Food, No Movement

One of the passengers onboard was English hockey player, Darcy Bourne who spoke about the delays in videos posted on TikTok. In the first video, she said they had got on the plane at 9am but were informed passengers could not leave while the airline works to replace the infected pilot.

In one of the videos she shared, the pilot could be heard saying over the in-flight intercom:

What we’re currently doing is looking for another pilot to take my place and that process is ongoing, but it’s not going to happen quickly and at the moment we have got people in the process of trying to find someone.

Bourne said passengers were evacuated from the plane after three hours spent in their seats with no food. When they got off the plane, flight attendants handed them £4 food vouchers each, according to Bourne.

All-On-Board

More than two hours had gone by before they were asked to board again as it turned out, the test result was a false positive.

People are getting rowdy, so they let us off the plane and give us £4 food vouchers. You can barely even get a water for £4 at the airport. Then, two hours after that, so like five hours, they tell us it was a false positive. He never had Covid.

However, they were not given any food to eat on the flight as the allocated food had gone bad due to the long wait and had to be thrown out. In her last update, Bourne informed her followers:

So we're back on the plane, it's all good, except the food has gone off, they had to throw out our food for the ten-hour flight. Anyway, fly for ten hours, hungry, it doesn't matter...17 hours after getting on the plane we arrive.

The British Airways apologized to the passengers, promising to reach out to them and make a goodwill gesture.

Just one in 200 amber list travellers test positive for COVID Just one in 200 amber list travellers test positive for COVID