Police dramatically stormed a flight as it waited an hour and a half after staff accused passengers of stealing a security guard’s phone – only to find it wasn’t there. Passengers aboard Wizz Air flight W95004 were told their 3.10pm flight to Tirana, Albania, would be held on the tarmac at Luton Airport after boarding on April 25.
Staff rushed request CCTV footage after someone was alleged to have stolen a phone in the airport. The plane was reportedly delayed from take-off for 88 minutes after staff levelled the accusations, with a member of the cabin crew announcing a “security issue” before saying the plane would not take-off as planned.
The announcement, made just before the plane was due to take off, allegedly saw staff claim they “know the phone is on board”, and couldn’t take off as “there’s something that does not belong to this flight”.
Staff are alleged to have said: “We know the phone is on board, now we should leave in two minutes – we cannot because of this, this is a security issue.
“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.”
The announcement came after passengers claimed they were told staff could hear announcements over the phone when they called and it was picked up. One 28-year-old passenger, who asked not to be named, said the calls led staffers to believe a passenger on board had swiped the device.
The passenger said: “You’d think airports would be more secure and this would be resolved much more swiftly. You’re not even safe at Luton airport, somewhere you think is a safe space.”
Nearly an hour after the first announcement, a different member of crew allegedly announced that staff were looking at CCTV footage to find the culprit. Passengers claimed he said: “We still want to give the chance for this potential person who made the mistake to bring it before they will find it in the video.
“Once again, please voluntarily come to the front or to my colleagues at the back.” With the phone still missing, police then boarded the plane full of frustrated passengers.
Then, over an hour after the flight was due to take off, exasperated cabin crew members announced to apoplectic passengers that there was in fact “no item” on the plane at all.
They said: “There’s no item on this plane. We’re happy now with our security position to go. I appreciate your understanding for this situation. 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.”
The Mirror has contacted Wizz Air and Luton Airport for comment.
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