Usually, stories about unruly air travelers involve one or two passengers behaving like absolute maniacs. But the passengers of Brussels Airlines flight A330 decided to make their insanity a group effort.
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As reported by Aviation 24, after their flight to Cameroon had to return to Brussels due to a technical problem, the travelers were hit with some very unpleasant news: there would be no more flights to their destination that day. A bummer for sure, but for 40 of the 273 passengers who did not have a visa for the Belgian territory, it got even worse. Those travelers would be forced to spend the night in the airport rather than in a complimentary hotel room.
This news was not received well. Groupthink landed on the concept of, “If we’re not flying, no one is flying,” and so the grounded passengers formed a human barrier, blocking other travelers from getting to their gates.
The airport quickly devolved into “an absolute mess” according to traveler Darren McDermott who tweeted from the scene.
#BrusselsAirport is an absolute mess today. According to staff the passengers of a flight that was due to leave last night have blockaded #GateB with a sit-down protest. To their credit airport staff are bussing passengers to other side of the terminal to get to their gates. pic.twitter.com/TduW2xJjoT
— Darren J. McDermott (@EURASEANEDU) December 8, 2022
The absolute mess was eventually cleaned up before things got even more out of hand. A spokesperson for Brussels Airlines told Business Insider the airline made arrangements with government authorities to move those without visas, and the airport returned to normalcy.
Related: American Airlines Flight Diverted After Passenger Punches Flight Attendant
Let’s just hope the airline had that next flight fully stocked with coffee because, with this group, you could easily have a scene like this on your hands.
