British Airways flight stopped from taking off – because the seat cushions were too padded

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A British Airways aircraft was stopped from taking off in Italy because its seat cushions were too thick and broad.

Italian aviation officers carried out a shock inspection of the BA flight from Milan to London Heathrow on Monday (5 February) solely to conclude that the Airbus A320neo plane had the mistaken sort of seat cushions.

The offending cushions affected seats in the overwing exit rows, that are normally much less pronounced to create more room in the occasion of an evacuation, in accordance with View From the Wing.

Following the inspection, it was established that the plane didn’t have the requisite modified cushions, nonetheless.

A passenger on the sold-out flight uploaded two movies of his expertise to TikTok, which confirmed bemused enterprise class passengers in fits – “funny scenes”, he wrote.

Air stewards could be heard studying out the right serial quantity, whereas passengers were instructed to tug again their seats in an effort to search out the smaller cushions that may very well be exchanged with the plush pillows.

“Basically, they [British Airways] had standard seat cushions in emergency rows; they need to have short ones in case of an emergency,” the TikTok person defined.

“So we are checking under the seats in case they are somewhere else. If we can’t find them, if we can’t find 12, we need to disembark and we are not safe to fly”.

Fortunately, the sharp-eyed passengers recognized the right cushions which were duly swapped and the flight departed with simply an hour’s delay.

Several social media customers were baffled by the debacle, nonetheless.

“Since when [are] pax allowed to dismantle [the] seat base? It is supposed to be done by an engineer or trained cabin crew,” stated one, whereas one other applauded the belt-and-braces method, writing: “Nicely done, British Airways must follow the rules.”

The Independent has contacted British Airways for remark.

The uncommon incident comes simply weeks after new knowledge revealed that one third of UK passengers suffered delays or cancellations in 2023.

Data from AirAssist discovered that London Gatwick was the worst offending airport when it got here to disruption, with 42 per cent of passengers affected, whereas London Stansted got here in a detailed second with a 39 per cent disruption charge.

The most punctual airport was Durham Tees Valley Airport, the place simply 19 per cent of flights were disrupted.