Man ‘Inadvertently’ Boards Wrong Flight, Permitted to Stay

EASYJET- GATWICK AIRPORT OPERATIONS Pix:Tim Anderson

It appeared to have been an honest mistake, but the incident made some passengers query the integrity of airport security at MAN.

Despite having the wrong boarding pass, a traveler who boarded a Cyprus-bound plane from Manchester Airport (MAN) earlier this week was allowed to complete his journey,

The incident took place on Sunday on board EasyJet Flight EZY1973 from MAN to Paphos.

While it soon transpired that he did have a ticket to Paphos, the unnamed man’s ultimate destination, his original booking was actually for an EasyJet flight that had already left for Cyprus earlier that day.

Despite passing through security, the man still somehow ended up on the wrong flight. Eyewitnesses say that the man was honest about his mistake and that the captain of Flight EZY1973 spoke to the passenger prior to boarding. The flight eventually took off for Cyprus, having been delayed by 30 minutes

An unnamed female passenger described the incident to the Manchester Evening News, saying, “We were informed by the captain that we were delayed due to a passenger being on the wrong plane … We were then informed by the captain that the passenger was remaining on the flight and the paperwork was being updated.”

Concerned about a potential breach of security, some passengers queried the incident with the crew and were told that the traveler had been subject to the requisite security checks.

An EasyJet spokesperson confirmed the incident to the paper, saying that the carrier “can confirm that a passenger who inadvertently boarded flight EZY1973 from Manchester to Paphos instead of boarding an earlier flight to Paphos was permitted to travel on the flight by the captain as the flight he was originally booked on had already left its stand.”

The safety and security of passengers and crew, he added, is the airline’s highest priority.

A representative for MAN commented to the outlet that, “All passengers in airside areas of the airport have passed through security and have been cleared for travel, whatever their end destination. It is a matter for individual airlines to decide whether to allow passengers who have missed earlier flights to travel at a later time.”

[Photo: EasyJet]