Crew given the boot on Belfast bound Easyjet flight after water bottle 'disagreement'

A BELFAST bound easyJet flight from Gatwick was delayed yesterday, August 25, because of an argument between flight crew. 

Flight EZY835 from London Gatwick was due to take off just before 2.30pm yesterday afternoon when the flight was returned to the gate.

Passengers were informed that staff on board had an argument over unpacking water bottles for the flight.

In a series of tweets, easyJet passenger and professional broadcaster Dan Lobb described the events.

According to Mr Lobb, the two crew members had a disagreement over unpacking water bottles and were offloaded from the flight, causing a delay of nearly 90 minutes before the flight could take off to allow two new crew members to board.

"This is a first," Mr Lobb wrote, "My easy jet flight has been returned to [the] gate because the cabin crew have had a tiff. 1 crew member being offloaded."

"They just don't like each other!" he wrote, "a disagreement over unwrapping water bottles or something!"

According to Mr Lobb, the captain of the flight then addressed the passengers and asked them to "please be patient".

The flight crew then offered the passengers water while they waited, and allowed passengers from the back of the flight to come up to the front where it was cooler.

According to posts by passengers on the airline's Facebook page, the plane, crew and passengers remained on the tarmac on one of the hottest days of the year for 90 minutes.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: "EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY835 from London Gatwick to Belfast on 24 August returned to stand to replace two crew members following a verbal disagreement between them."

The spokeswoman went on to say that the safety and welfare of their passengers and crew is the airline's "highest priority" and that easyJet's cabin crew "need to be able to work as a team".