‘Stanley Johnson caused our flight to be cancelled’ – claim from passengers on BA plane diverted to Heathrow

Passengers have accused Stanley Johnson of causing a diverted British Airways flight to be cancelled.

The writer, who is Boris Johnson’s father, was aboard BA2641 from Malaga to London Gatwick.

When a separate British Airways flight rejected take off at Gatwick, the runway was closed for 50 minutes and 16 flights were diverted – including the Malaga flight.

The plan was to refuel the Airbus A321 at Heathrow and, with the runway open again, make the short flight to Gatwick. But some passengers were keen to disembark – including Mr Johnson, according to passengers.

One of them, Richard Davenport, told The Independent: “The plan was to refuel and the aircraft was given a slot to fly to Gatwick. However as Stanley Johnson decided he wanted to get off – along with another passenger – we subsequently missed the slot.

“It took a few hours to sort and ultimately BA cancelled the flight. All passengers then had to deplane and proceed through immigration and then take a bus to Gatwick.

“With a car parked at Gatwick we didn’t have to option to just leave at Heathrow. It left 99.5 per cent of passengers with a bitter taste.”

At one stage airport police were summoned to deal with the issue, passengers say.

Wrong airport: British Airways staff and airport police at the foot of the stairs of a BA Airbus A321 diverted from Gatwick to Heathrow (Annemarie)

Another passenger, Annemarie, told The Independent: “Apparently Stanley Johnson refused to stay on the plane, along with a terrified flyer. They were getting quite irate, hence the police.

“This caused carnage because the airline cannot make you stay on the plane against your will. And because so many passengers wanted to get off, it would have caused hell at Heathrow with passengers having to claim their luggage and then those who wanted to go to Gatwick to perhaps claim their luggage then recheck in again and it would have meant the crew were out of flying hours.

“The airline made the decision to cancel the flight.”

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “Due to earlier disruption at Gatwick, the flight diverted to Heathrow where it terminated.”

Stanley Johnson was approached for comment.

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