Cabin fever?
A British Airways flight devolved into pure “pandemonium” after passengers and crew fell ill, prompting hazmat-suited workers to swarm the plane after an emergency landing.
“It was definitely a flight from hell,” Melanie Wells, 61, told Kennedy News while recounting the ill-fated trip, which occurred during a flight from London, UK, to Egypt.
The East Sussex native and her 19-year-old daughter had planned to embark on a $10,000 all-inclusive vacation to Sharm El Sheikh — a scenic city on the Red Sea — to help boost her spirits as she hadn’t been feeling well.
“I hadn’t been away for ages, it was definitely much-needed,” Wells recalled.
Unfortunately, the Brit’s dreams of a relaxing trip fizzled after she became violently sick on the plane.
“When we boarded, the temperature was so extreme that I started to feel unwell,” the vacationer alleged. “It was supersonically hot. I ended up getting a really bad headache.”
Wells initially attributed her symptoms to the heat until she noticed she wasn’t the only one feeling green around the gills.
“About an hour and a half in the air, crew members suddenly began running down the aisle backward and forward. I didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “There was one mom whose eyes rolled into the back of her head. The crew looking after them had actually collapsed.”
According to Wells, a total of six people fell ill aboard the aircraft. Wells, who felt “nauseous” with a headache, said she believes her symptoms were caused by noxious fumes on board.
Following an emergency landing in Venice, Italy, ambulances and fire engines surrounded the plane. Then, emergency crews wearing hazmat suits and breathing apparatuses scrambled aboard and began administering tests to afflicted passengers and crew.
“I was absolutely terrified,” recounted Wells. “I was thinking, have we all been inhaling toxic fumes?”
She added that the usually stalwart airline staff was in “pure panic mode” as well.
Unfortunately, she claims that the flyers were kept in the dark. “At no point did the captain give us any information,” the petrified passenger lamented.
After an eight-hour delay in Italy, the plane returned to London. It then landed in Egypt the next morning.
Wells dubbed the experience “horrific,” venting “we were traveling for 40 hours. We were utterly exhausted.”
The bedraggled traveler reportedly submitted a complaint to British Airways, which reportedly offered her nearly $3,000 in compensation for the cancelled flight, meal expenses and other hardships.
But Wells claimed that the carrier refused to refund her the $667 for their first night that they missed in Egypt due to the delays.
“BA have performed in the most cavalier manner,” she declared. “The distress and trauma we went through, it was utterly traumatic. It ruined the start of our holiday.”
Reps for the airline have yet to specify the source of the inflight illness, instead claiming the aircraft was diverted “as a precaution because of a technical issue.”
“We’ve apologized to our customers for their experience and have offered compensation accordingly,” said the spokesperson.
They added that there was no evidence of fumes on board and that the plane was inspected and put back in service the next day.
The Post has reached out to BA for comment.
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