LONDON – A Wizz Air pilot has got himself into hot water after ranting at passengers who were complaining about their seven-hour delay on board the flight.

The footage itself was captured on TikTok, where you could hear the pilot say the following things:

“A show of hands please – who wants to get off?”

“We won’t be going tonight if you get off.

“You know, I don’t need this, my crew doesn’t need this.

“We are doing what we can to get you out of here. It’s out of our control.

“Okay? Completely out of my control. We are doing everything we can.”

The Flight…

The incident took place on W65747, which was a scheduled service between London Gatwick and Larnaca.

It is unclear what date this incident occurred, but if it was this week as it was reported, it would have occurred either yesterday or on May 23.

According to The Independent, Wizz Air said the following on this:

“Wizz Air sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience caused by the delayed flight W95749, from Gatwick to Larnaca.

“This was initially a result of a late inbound aircraft, with further delays caused by Air Traffic Control issues at London Gatwick. Wizz Air has contacted affected customers directly to inform them about their rights.”

The Stress Itself…

There has, of course, been some debate about whether to side with the pilot, as there has been a lot of criticism about the general public since coming out of lockdown.

In other industries, like hospitality, for example, the whole “kill them with kindness” perspective doesn’t seem to work anymore, and the needs of the consumer have increased post-lockdown.

This can definitely be seen on both sides. If the pilots can’t do anything about it, then the consumer needs to back off. However, if it emerges that something could have been done, then more should have been done.

The statement itself from Wizz doesn’t indicate whether the airline could have done anything, except refer them to consumer rights on acquiring refunds.

It is of course definitely a hard one to judge, especially with the aviation sector expected to go through significant levels of stress as it needs to recruit more staff to cope with demand.

For example, easyJet had to cancel 24 flights from London Gatwick earlier this week, highlighting the air traffic control restrictions that were in play during that point.

Overall…

Incidents like this completely highlight the undue stress that the sector is going through, and unfortunately, it goes all the way down to passengers being affected by this.

This will probably be an issue that is not fixed until the conclusion of the Summer 2022 season, so all the stories that you have seen recently surrounding such chaos will no doubt continue.

Looking ahead, it is down to the aviation sector itself, and more should have been done in terms of preparations going forward. But it’s too late for that.