BA panics passengers with crash announcement
The cabin crew of a British Airways flight to London from Miami accidentally activated an emergency announcement that said the plane was going to crash and passengers should prepare for a water landing.
As passengers began to panic, a flight attendant apologised over the intercom and said the message was played by mistake.
Passenger Duncan Farquharson, who was flying with his wife, told the Daily Mail, "We were about three hours into the flight when an automated message came over the tannoy saying: ‘This is an emergency, we will shortly be making an emergency landing on water’.
"We looked at each other and figured we were both about to die. Families with children were distraught and people were in tears. It was very distressing.
"About 30 seconds later one of the cabin crew told us to ignore the announcement and accept their apologies but the tone of [it] suggested they had not grasped how seriously we had taken it.
"Imagining yourself plunging towards a cold, watery grave in the middle of the Atlantic is a pretty horrific thought but they seemed very blase about it."
A British Airways spokesman said that the cabin crew immediately apologised and spoke to passengers individually to reassure them.
The airline confirmed that the pre-recorded emergency announcement was activated in error.
The spokesman said, "The cabin crew cancelled the announcement immediately and sought to reassure customers that the flight was operating normally."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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