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"I believe The reason the passengers are not returned to the terminal is because the crew would not be paid. Pilots are paid for the time in the cockpit. I think the crew is paid that way also although I am not sure.

- Amelia Earhart, Boom Town, 31/05/2011 03:55"

Your biggest concern is that if the crew is getting paid. The crew wants to get you to your destination. In many cases they are flying home to so they have similar incentives as passengers. The airline where I work will take flights back to the gate within the 3 hour Tarmac Delay Law's rule and will cancel the flight to avoid the huge fine. And by the way the crew still gets paid so stop worrying about if the crew is getting paid while at work.

- Time to Spare Go by Air, Parker Colorado, 31/05/2011 17:02
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I def understand... I am extrememly claustrophobic and I express this to the airlines in writting before I board. I can prepare myself for at max a 3 hour flight. Don't hit me with a delay or circling of the tarmac because I would not be able to deal. Last time I flew, they were having trouble setting up whatever it is that needs to be at the door so we can exit the plane... I nearly lost it. Everyone was standing up around me.. I had to hop over everyone and get near the exit to be the first one off. Airlines should not put ppl in postitions like this. They will never understand what someone like me experiences in a situation like that and its unfair

- kisha, New York, 31/05/2011 16:18
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A person who suffers from panic attacks could turn into a raving lunatic under those conditions. It's a bona fide medical condition but they would end up in jail instead of their kidnappers, the airlines. I could easily be pushed pas the point of a sane response to the point where blood could easily be spilled whether it was mine or the airline's people. This is exactly the reason I won't fly anywhere. If I wanted to go somewhere that required flying I'd probably take a boat.

- King Ghidora, Ohio, USA, 31/05/2011 08:05
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I am flying this airline in September, but in business class. Hope for a better quality of rioting passenger there. 8 days in The Lebanon. Looking forward to it.

- Peter, London, 31/05/2011 07:46
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Why so many multiple posts on the site?????

I no longer fly on airlines. I only drive now because of the misery of commercial flight. If I can't drive, I don't go there. We are following the plot line of the political class in Atlas Shrugged. How long before it is not possible to even drive, but I have to take a horse and wagon to get anyplace?

- sopwith, colorado springs, colorado, 31/05/2011 05:11
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It seems things got out of hand due to poor leadership and communication on the part of the captain and crew. Passengers should always be allowed the option to disembark after four hours. (On a full flight you can be sure there are at least a few people with relatively serious medical or psychological conditions.) On this particular plane, passengers were treated badly and even endangered, i.e., when the plane took off without warning. In the USA, the airlines pretty much have their way with the passengers to the point of being similarly abusive. I believe a Passengers Bill of Rights was watered down if not quashed thanks to the influence corporate money has over our legislators' ability to think straight.

- Bill Jones, Lexington, Kentucky, 31/05/2011 04:43
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I believe The reason the passengers are not returned to the terminal is because the crew would not be paid. Pilots are paid for the time in the cockpit. I think the crew is paid that way also although I am not sure.

- Amelia Earhart, Boom Town, 31/05/2011 03:55
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Commenters here are comparing the passengers to children who are spoiled and don't know proper behavior. Well, when a flight crew keeps people sequestered on a plane for seven hours and there isn't any real reason to let them off, they're treating them like children. Maybe they're acting like children because they're being treated that way.

- Brian, Encino, CA, USA, 31/05/2011 03:49
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No matter how righteous the rest of these posters are, it is STILL UNCONSIONABLE that the plane was not taken back to the terminal to let those people off to refresh, to eat, or to do whatever they wanted, until it was time to embark again. There is no reason that airlines need to keep people in a plane for more than one hour. We pay for flights, not jail time locked in a cabin for seven %^$#@ hours.
If I profesed my feelings I would not have enough expletives in my vocabulary for declaring the idiotcy of those airlines !!!

- BumpyRider, San Diego - USA, 31/05/2011 03:21
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For everyone wondering about the "Lord of the Flies" reference, the main theme of the book is the conflict between the human impulse towards savagery and the rules of civilization... I think this applies here, if there was a bit of a passenger revolt, considering how "well-mannered" we all are in this day and age...

- Dee, Boulder, CO USA, 31/05/2011 02:07
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If people have medical problems such as heart conditions - then this is nonsense!! If they (Pilot/Aircrew) know they are going to be in this condition... Then let the elderly and infirmed passengers disembark the aircraft - as this is only logical, common sense and FAIR!!! People do NOT get on aircraft to have heart attacks and possible death as a result!!

- MAKE MY DAY, Arizona, USA, 31/05/2011 00:36
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If people have medical problems such as heart conditions - then this is nonsense!! If they (Pilot/Aircrew) know they are going to be in this condition... Then let the elderly and infirmed passengers disembark the aircraft - as this is only logical, common sense and FAIR!!! People do NOT get on aircraft to have heart attacks and possible death as a result!!

- MAKE MY DAY, Arizona, USA, 31/05/2011 00:27
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I think the translator who called in this story, Ms. Lancaster, needs to reread "the Lord of the Flies". The novel reference does not apply to the situation she described occurring on the airplane. Maybe referring to the movie "Airplane!" would have been more accurate.

- nickoury, USA, 31/05/2011 00:06
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I think the translator who called in this story, Ms. Lancaster, needs to reread "the Lord of the Flies". The novel reference does not apply to the situation she described occurring on the airplane. Maybe referring to the movie "Airplane!" would have been more accurate.

- nickoury, USA, 31/05/2011 00:05
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I think the translator who called in this story, Ms. Lancaster, needs to reread "the Lord of the Flies". The novel reference does not apply to the situation she described occurring on the airplane. Maybe referring to the movie "Airplane!" would have been more accurate.

- nickoury, USA, 31/05/2011 00:04
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I think the translator who called in this story, Ms. Lancaster, needs to reread "the Lord of the Flies". The novel reference does not apply to the situation she described occurring on the airplane. Maybe referring to the movie "Airplane!" would have been more accurate.

- nickoury, USA, 31/05/2011 00:03
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So what is the difference between conditions on a long haul flight and sitting on the tarmac. Psychological is about it.

- dee bok, New Hampshire USA, 30/05/2011 23:58
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I vote they just start gassing the people with nitros oxide and make them keep watching Shrek over and over again without telling them what's going on. Surely that will make the long hours a little more pleasant.

- OceanDiver, Indiana, 30/05/2011 22:54
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Sounds to me like unacceptable behaviour from some passengers, probably triggered by drink.

In 1989 I was on a BA flight from Heathrow to Sydney that couldn't land at Bangkok because the airport there was fogbound. We ended up spending nine hours on the runway at a military airport 100 miles south of Bangkok, behind four or five other jumbos. First we waited for them to refuel, then we waited a bit more so a fresh crew could be bussed down from Bangkok through rush hour traffic, as our crew had used up their allocated hours.

The crew offered us an opportunity to leave the plane, which was baking on the runway in 90+ degree heat, but not being a commercial airport, it had no facilities for 300 or so civilian passengers, such as air conditioning, shops, restaurants, waiting rooms, etc. Most of us chose to stay on board, with the window shutters firmly down so the heat wouldn't overpower the plane's air conditioning.

The crew worked like trojans to keep us fed, watered and entertained. It was as frustrating for them as it was for us. Today's passengers sound like a bunch of over-entitled prats.

- Stevie D, London, UK, 30/05/2011 22:34
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This is one of those deals where you have no idea how stupid it was and how bad it was. And how justified the passengers were to be incensed. Did you hear the part about missing their opportunity to take off and having to wait SEVEN HOURS for the next available opportunity? Does that make sense to you who are sitting there in your easy chair?

- Golfnut6, Houston, USA, 30/05/2011 22:28
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Between the airlines contempt for their economy-class passengers (lousy food-stuff, smaller and smaller sized seats and knee space) and the TSA thugs doing the sex-grope and x-ray, I simply stopped flying. Anything requiring long-distance must either go by e-conference, internet, telephone, or it doesn't happen. A boycott of airliners is long overdue. We are not peasants to be crammed into the bilge, like in centuries past. Either treat us like human beings, or prepare for more and more of this kind of rebellions, or boycotts.

- Black Eagle, USA, 30/05/2011 22:12
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Who has been locked up a plane for days? No one! The plane delivered the passengers to their destination so there was no breach of contract. What were the inhuman conditions? That they received water to drink, weren't out in the 40 mph winds, and had restrooms to use. Wow real inhuman.
I do agree with you that CEOs and other managers should test their product incognito to find out what processes and procedures to improve. As for trying to maximize profits that's their job and it's what keeps ticket prices affordable for the average consumer. If you don't like they way a company is run use a different one.

- Joe, Great Falls MT USA, 30/05/2011 21:26
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Passengers, and people in general, have been infantalized by a culture which caters to immediate pleasures. They have been further infantalized by the National Security State and the invasive airport security gauntlet. By the time these "naughty children" get on the plane they are ready to suck their thumbs. The stewardesses and stewards should be handing out pacifiers and pudding.

- Stan, New York, New York, USA, 30/05/2011 19:39
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I sat on the tarmac in San Juan for six hours in the 1960s. The carrier was Eastern and they did keep us informed. When we boarded, the ac wasn't working and the mechanics spent the six hours trying to get the generator working. We weren't allowed to disembark and repeated announcements would tell us it would only be a short time to take off. The temperature in that cabin had to be 100 degrees and people were gasping for air but everyone was calm and well- mannered. After take off and about half way to Newark, a man in the row behind us had a heart attack. The plane turned around and went back to San Juan instead of continuing on to Miami which seemed to make more sense to us. He was still alive when taken off the plane in San Juan but I later learned he died in the hospital. He was about 45, traveling with his wife and a son about 17 years old. I have always believed that six hours of unbearable heat contributed greatly to his heart attack. It is cruel not to let people disembark in situations like this.

- Joan, Ewa Beach, HI, 30/05/2011 19:22
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First of all, I would like to give some advice to airline managers who like to travel on private jets.
ALWAYS take the planes from your own airlines. Then you know what kind of product you're selling.
After being locked up in a plane with hundreds of people in inhumane conditions for hours or days, write about "crying wussies".
Besides, if airlines choose to maximize their profits by leaving passengers stranded, it's clearly a case of breach of contract. People paid for a service they don't get.

- Koala, Red Lake South Dakota, 30/05/2011 19:20
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First of all, I would like to give some advice to airline managers who like to travel on private jets.
ALWAYS take the planes from your own airlines. Then you know what kind of product you're selling.
After being locked up in a plane with hundreds of people in inhumane conditions for hours or days, write about "crying wussies".
Besides, if airlines choose to maximize their profits by leaving passengers stranded, it's clearly a case of breach of contract. People paid for a service they don't get.

- Koala, Red Lake South Dakota, 30/05/2011 19:18
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Good for them, maybe this little act will show the useless airline companies that if you treat your customers, the ones that pay your bills, the same way you would treat a dirt pile, that dirt pile may rise up and spit in your eye.

- Kolgoroth, here, 30/05/2011 19:11
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Someone wrote, "All this privatisation of major entities was a huge mistake. Foreigners base their opinion of a country on the efficiency of their Air, Train and Road Transport; and whether their Gas Electricty and Water is reliable. The State should be in control of all these so that there is proper co-ordination."

You're kidding, right? The same guys that brought us New Orleans?

- Dave H, Weinheim, Germany, 30/05/2011 18:50
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What a bunch of babies! Seven hours on the tarmac and that's a human rights abuse? Give me a break! You all need to learn what real abuse is. In the future don't do business with this carrier and they will improve service or go out of business. Or is couple days on a boat to get to your destination a bigger hassle then a seven hour delay on a plane? As for blaming the Canadians, I don't know any Canadians who would let a little 40 mph wind "batter them" much less ground them for seven hours. Toughen up!

- Joe, Great Falls MT USA, 30/05/2011 18:31
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It really must be Israel's fault.

- Stephen Foster, Detroit, USA, 30/05/2011 17:51
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It must be Israel's fault.

- Stephen Foster, Detroit, USA, 30/05/2011 17:48
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TO the 'reporter'..."Lord of the Flies" isn't about any mutiny, it's about a group of young boys stranded on a desert island.

- Timothy, Birmingham, AL, 30/05/2011 17:48
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What a pack of crying wussies we have become. We can fly halfway around the world in a matter of hours, in comfort and ease, with some adult beverages thrown in, and we throw temper tantrums suited to a 2 year old if we are delayed.

My great-great-great grandparents took months on a tiny ship, wondering if they were going to survive the storms, to reach their new home in N. America. They lacked ipods and ipads to play with; they didn't have stewards serving them snacks and booze, and they held up much better than the simpering snots on this flight. They would be disgusted if they knew the spoiled rotten state of their descendants.

- selahgreen, Columbus, USA, 30/05/2011 17:46
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What a pack of crying wussies we have become. We can fly halfway around the world in a matter of hours, in comfort and ease, with some adult beverages thrown in, and we throw temper tantrums suited to a 2 year old if we are delayed.

My great-great-great grandparents took months on a tiny ship, wondering if they were going to survive the storms, to reach their new home in N. America. They lacked ipods and ipads to play with; they didn't have stewards serving them snacks and booze, and they held up much better than the simpering snots on this flight. They would be disgusted if they knew the spoiled rotten state of their descendants.

- selahgreen, Columbus, USA, 30/05/2011 17:24
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What a pack of crying wussies we have become. We can fly halfway around the world in a matter of hours, in comfort and ease, with some adult beverages thrown in, and we throw temper tantrums suited to a 2 year old if we are delayed.

My great-great-great grandparents took months on a tiny ship, wondering if they were going to survive the storms, to reach their new home in N. America. They lacked ipods and ipads to play with; they didn't have stewards serving them snacks and booze, and they held up much better than the simpering snots on this flight. They would be disgusted if they knew the spoiled rotten state of their descendants.

- selahgreen, Columbus, USA, 30/05/2011 17:23
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Am I the only one who finds this odd, that the airline says they missed their original departure due to the disruption. But it's pretty clear the disruption was the result of missing the first departure time. So how could something that happened hours later and as a result, also be the cause? I don't know which deserves more shame, the airline for stating that outright lie, or this paper for not catching, questioning or even mentioning the pathetic attempt for the airline to blame the passengers.

- Jack Ryan, New York, USA, 30/05/2011 16:58
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Good for the passengers! The airlines subject passengers to abuse, forcing them to stay on a grounded plane for hours just because it is cheaper than returning to the gate and letting them wait in the terminal. They imprison us for their convenience. Maybe a little bit of fear is what is necessary to keep airline personnel in line and treating us like human beings and valued customers.

- Mike, USA, 30/05/2011 16:53
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Why didn't somebody deploy the emergency chute?

- CallMeIshmael, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida USA, 30/05/2011 16:12
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Give up all rights , get on plane Sit Down And Shut Up
Sheep..... Repeat ... Again and Again ...

- Ralphin, 3 rd rock from the sun, 30/05/2011 16:00
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I lived in Beirut late in the last century and had the misfortune of flying MEA several times. They appear to have adopted the French corporate culture concerning airline customer service. Everytime I remember why Lebanon is a chaotic hellhole, I think of Syria and remember that things could be EVEN WORSE...! The Lebanese are merely @**holes. The Syrians exhaust any list of obscenities you can string together.

- daveinboca, boca raton, FL, USA, 30/05/2011 15:38
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I'm glad the passengers took action and went nuts on the crew they deerved it. Im tired of hearing about these airlines and security abusing passengers, sexually abusing them and imprisoning them on airplanes for 7 hours and more. This crap has got to stop! Maybe if we all just boycott these dam airlines and let a few of them go bankrupt, maybe that would get their dam attention!

- ROCKY, TAMPABAY Florida, 30/05/2011 14:41
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There really are some idiots commentating on here. This delay was nothing to do with BAA or nationalisation of our airports, which in itself was an absolutely excellent policy that has worked well. This issue was entirely the fault of a useless Arab airline, which has no customer service ethos and a very bad attitude to its customers, as I know having flown on them.

Some of you need to learn to engage brain before commenting with your knee jerk hard left nonsense.

- MD, London, UK, 30/05/2011 11:22
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All this privatisation of major entities was a huge mistake. Foreigners base their opinion of a country on the efficiency of their Air, Train and Road Transport; and whether their Gas Electricty and Water is reliable. The State should be in control of all these so that there is proper co-ordination.

- dhan raj, basildon, 30/05/2011 09:35
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It's once again obvious that airport privatization was a mistake. Gatwick and Heathrow should be brought back into the public sector with traffic rebalanced between the two. Heathrow cannot handle any disruption without severe knock on effects. Americans are stupid about health care but their right to keep the airports run as public utilities/services and not as for-profit entities.

- Eddie, Peckham, London, 29/05/2011 21:16
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Debrajoan, London U.K

Get a life dear you small minded pathetic person! There are more important things to worry about other than grammar and of and have! Hope you enjoy a nice delay on your hols!

- Paul Humphreys, Essex, 28/05/2011 23:07
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I was on the this flight too. Everything Robyn McNish said is true. However, we were served water after the passengers went up to the stewardess and demanded water. One passenger told me he went up to a lady and asked for water, she looked at the stewardess next to her in a "what-does-this-guy-want?" look and then finally gave him water. I understand this is hear-say but I witnessed the rudeness of the flight staff, the lies of the captain, and the mistreatment of the passengers. It is against human rights to keep people locked up in a plane for 7 hours while there are kids and get angry at them when they demand information. There was no reason known to us why we missed our 1 PM slot time or why we were delayed 7 hours. Planes were leaving normally while we just looked at them depart one after the other for 7 hours. I'm not looking for an apology or compensation. I just need to know why.

- Christina, New Jersey, USA, 28/05/2011 22:33
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Robyn gives a pretty harrowing eyewitness account of what took place. If MEA had any common sense they would have kept passengers fully informed of what was happening and reasons why and options available. But a decision should have been taken by MEA to disembark, abandon the flight earlier on and make alternative arrangements for all passngers, and not left to passengers to decide whether the flight should go ahead.
A thorough Enquiry and Fines for Airline and Authorities, and compenastion for passengers, is in order. It was a complete shambles and heads should roll.

- dhan raj, basildon, 28/05/2011 09:11
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According to the article the matter was ultimately one of scheduling. The question is, why so long? Surely - despite it's hectic schedule - Heathrow can squeeze and errant flight in between the rest? What happened here is incredulous. But at least - unlike the tube situation - nobody is blaming Boris Johnson. That's a welcome change!

- Wayne, Fredericton, Canada, 28/05/2011 03:51
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Paul Humphreys says he "would of" done the same.
How can someone who cannot write "would HAVE" instead of would OF" be given any credence?

- Debrajoan, London U.K., 28/05/2011 00:27
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I was on that flight and the whole fiasco could have been avoided had the MEA flight crew had a modicum of common sense. Initially were were told a delay of 20 minutes, then 1 hour and 40 minutes, then complete silence from the crew. By 5:00pm passengers wanted to know what was going on. We were told there were weather delays. Meanwhile we see plane and plane departing off the runway and planes that were scheduled to depart after us were being reported (on-line) as having departed. Soon thereafter arguments began as people began demanding to know what was going on. Mind you we had been given water but no food for hours. A fight broke out after a crew member screamed and then lunged at a passenger. Soon after, a British passenger called the police who boarded the plane. We were given the option of disembarking the plane, but if one passenger left, we were told that we would all lose our flight, or we could shut up and make the best of it. At 6pm, people started helping themselves to food and drink because the flight attendants were gossiping in the back of the plane. At 7:45 pm, with people standing in the aisles with their self-serve food trays and people in the bathroom, the plane accelerates and takes-off in violation of every air traffic regulation. Luckily no one was injured. The service was so poor that even after we took off, people still were serving themselves food and drink from the galley. Needless to say, that is the last MEA flight I will ever take!

- Robyn McNish, Washington, DC, 27/05/2011 21:11
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I have been caught in similar situations with thunderstorms particularly at Chicago O'Hare. My experiences there was that the plane would be loaded and then parked out on the airfield so as to free the gate for incoming flights. Don't know if that happened here or not but it could explain being held on the plane. If the gate is not cleared then passengers on incoming flight would be held on the plane instead while they waited for a gate to come free.

- Tony, Cambridge, 27/05/2011 20:43
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Why on earth are passengers forced to remain on planes when flights are grossly delayed? Let them go back into the airport. keep them contained, but in an area where they have access to toilets and leg room, and maybe even bring them food and drink if nothing is available in the security pen. 8 hours? Really???????? What they endured was obscene. I can visualize stinky overflowing toilets, no air conditioning. Reminds me a bit of the trains that took victims to concentration camps, overcrowded and nasty. No WONDER these people freaked out! My sympathies are totally with the poor passengers.

- Alice Polarbear, Fresno, CA USA, 27/05/2011 19:54
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Frank, yes I have read the book and saw the 60's film.

I also appreciate how horrible it must have been to be stuck on the tarmac all that time. I've only ever been delayed 3 hours and that was appalling.

But that wild statement ' it was like something out of LORD OF THE FLIES' seemed rather a bizarre comparison.

The boys in the book became wild over a long-ish period.

It would need an already deranged & pretty depraved bunch of 'plane passengers to descend into ' bestial barbarity ' in 8 hours - the equivalent of a normal working day.

- Jargonaut, South London, 27/05/2011 18:10
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Am I correct in assuming that compensation is NOT due under European regulations if the passengers were actually ON the aircraft?
If this is the case then it explains why people are detained for this unacceptable length of time.
Seems to me that it is high time that European Law made some moves in the direction of limiting the time airlines can keep passengers on an airplane without actually flying.

- Norman Speight, London UK, 27/05/2011 18:06
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"Same thing happened to me, 20 years ago on a Gulf Air flight in Sharjah in transit to Bombay. Stuck on board, in the middle of the desert, in the heat of mid day sun, and they wouldn't let us off. But passengers in those days were better behaved and kept calm, though irate and annoyed." - dhan raj, basildon, 27/05/2011 16:33

Has people's behaviour deteriorated, Dhan?

Or have we just come to expect higher standards and a bit more respect?

Regardless, I don't think being imprisoned on a plane for hours in Sharjah in 1991 or in 2011 in London is acceptable.

As long as people are prepared to sit there and accept this blatant mistreatment the longer the airlines will subject people to it instead of striving to become more organised and improve customer service.

- Hackajack, Bow, 27/05/2011 17:57
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Same thing happened to me, 20 years ago on a Gulf Air flight in Sharjah in transit to Bombay. Stuck on board, in the middle of the desert, in the heat of mid day sun, and they wouldn't let us off. But passengers in those days were better behaved and kept calm, though irate and annoyed.

- dhan raj, basildon, 27/05/2011 16:33
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@Jargonaut, South London

You must have missed the part of the article where one of the passengers described the situation as "like something from Lord of the Flies". That's why the ES are referring to the novel in their headline!

But, may I ask, have YOU read Lord of the Flies?

Because if you had then you could surely recognise the comparisons.

A group of people stranded in a situation they cannot escape; the rapid breakdown of order and society; infighting, tribal division and the outbreak of bestial barbarity!

There are numerous relevant comparisons.

- Frank, London, 27/05/2011 16:27
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You see friends . If we'd been meant to fly we would have been given wings .Alas we have to hope that the machine that has wings can get off the ground.If the Wright brothers were here today I'm afraid that the general public would string them up .

- Hamilton Straker, Ealing West London, 27/05/2011 16:06
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I would of done the same. To be imprisoned for 7 hours on a plane in situ is unacceptable. I hope the airline realised they seriously increased the risk of DVT to their passengers by not letting them off.

- Paul Humphreys, Essex, 27/05/2011 15:56
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a tip for all you regular travellers... i always make sure i smell strongly of booze before i get onto any plane and also make sure i leave any tell-tale "splash marks" visible on the front of my trousers. as i settle into my seat i will then make out that i could be about to vomit. before you know it i have a row of seats to myself. plenty of space to stretch out and relax in case there are any delays along the way.

- keithy boy, london, 27/05/2011 15:46
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dhan raj, you're saying you've been trapped on the Underground for longer than seven hours? I know it's a creaky old Underground but longer than 7 hours I find hard to believe.

Presumably other flights were delayed also. Did they all imprison their passengers on board as well? BAA is absolutely right that this is a matter for the individual airline.

- EuroLND, London, 27/05/2011 15:39
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This is ridiculous unruly and unwarranted behaviour. Wouldn't happen on the underground and we've been stuck for hours longer, just waiting.
What passengers need is training, survival training in delays, as well as the obligatory training about lifejackets and seatbelts etc before the flight takes off.

- dhan raj, basildon, 27/05/2011 15:08
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"winds of up to 40mph battered the country"
40mph an hour winds? Battered? Good Lord, batten down the hatches everyone it's a heavy gust, quick, someone call the fire brigade there's a man struggling with an umbrella! Talk about a non event.

- Bob, Cheam, 27/05/2011 14:42
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It can be frustrating when you have to sit on a plane for hours without any news of when you are going to take off. On a few occasions I have sat in the plane for over an hour before take off. In one case, easyjet, we waited 3.5 hours in the plane. They would not let any passengers off the plane and only served water from time to time. Airlines should be better prepared for such events or compensate the passengers.

- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 27/05/2011 14:35
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Sounds like the 'Arab Spring' is coming to the UK - help!!

- Nigel, St Albans, UK, 27/05/2011 14:33
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I disagree. Surely if they were told to "calm down" it was more like a 90's, catch phrase based comedy show featuring regional stereotype characters from Liverpool.
Admittedly "Air passengers in '90's, catch phrase based comedy show featuring regional stereotype characters from Liverpool' mutiny after seven-hour delay" isn't quite as snappy a headline.

- Neil, London, 27/05/2011 14:29
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Surely all passengers should have been let back off the plane into the terminal and reboarded later, a seven hour delay is totally unacceptable. Can't beleive Heathrow didn't organise that!

- redsquare, london, 27/05/2011 13:54
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What has this got to do with William Goldings novel?

Has anyone at the ES read it?

That was about schoolkids marooned on a desert island.

The tarmac at Heathrow is hardly the Pacific Ocean.

Can someone explain?

Surely if the passengers were told to ' hold their horses ' it was more like Ben-Hur?

- Jargonaut, South London, 27/05/2011 13:54
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MEA keep peopole on board for 7 hours and then blame them.
Unbelievably inept and downright incompetent.
Never fly MEA, they are awful.

- Minnie, LA,CA,USA, 27/05/2011 12:55
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