Frustrated Aer Lingus passengers volunteer their credit card to pay for aircraft refuelling

Passengers of flight EI0576 were shocked when the Captain announced a further delay in the flight between Dublin and Alicante due to a fuel bill problem and started offering their personal credit cards to get them on their way again.

The Aer Lingus flight left Dublin at 6.10pm and was about to land at Alicante at 10pm Spanish time when fog closed in over the runway and the plane had to ascend again. After circling Alicante several times, the pilot advised passengers he was diverting to Valencia until the fog lifted.

Passengers were told they had to remain on board whilst the crew waited for news on the weather in Alicante and the aircraft was refuelled. Unfortunately, this caused another long delay while Valencia Airport authorities demanded payment for the fuel.

“When we had to reascend at Alicante because of the fog, we hung about in the air for a little while. Then we started running low on fuel so the pilot diverted to Valencia. We were sitting on the runway there for about 40 minutes when Aer Lingus decided from Dublin that we would refuel in Valencia and then return to Alicante if the weather had improved. After refuelling we were still sitting for another hour and then the pilot came on to the tannoy to say that they had a little bit of a problem because Aer Lingus don’t normally fly into Valencia and the crew had to get word that they could pay the fuel bill”. Said Elizabeth from Trim, Co Meath.

“It seemed there was no-one authorised to pay the bill so they had to get back on to Dublin for further instructions. In the meantime passengers started volunteering their credit cards to pay for the fuel. People were actually lifting their cards out of their wallet”. Elizabeth continued.

The flight eventually landed at 1.30am the next morning, 3.5 hours late.

Original article taken from www.independent.ie