British Airways passengers are left terrified after oxygen masks drop down during Singapore to Heathrow flight with an automated message that it was ‘not a drill’
- Passengers left terrified after oxygen masks dropped on British Airways flight
- Lights and televisions stopped working on flight from Singapore to Heathrow
- Cabin crew said it was a technical problem and system needed to be rebooted
- British Airways has apologised and launched an investigation into the problem
British Airways passengers were left terrified after oxygen masks were deployed in mid air alongside an automated message saying ‘this is not a drill’.
The incident happened on Sunday night on a flight from Singapore to Heathrow and the tension increased on board the Boeing 777 when all the lights went off and televisions stopped working.
After about three minutes, cabin crew said it was a false alarm and that it was a technical problem that would be solved by rebooting the electronics.
Mitchell Webb, 24, who was on the plane, said he overheard staff referring to the aircraft as an ‘old girl’.
Passengers on board a British Airways flight from Singapore to Heathrow were left terrified after oxygen masks were deployed alongside an automated message saying ‘this is not a drill’ (file picture)
Mr Webb, a chartered accountant from Sutton Coldfield, told the Evening Standard: ‘It was very scary – even after we were told it was all fine I still wondered what else could go wrong thereafter, given we were only a couple of hours into the flight when it happened.
‘Throughout the remainder of the flight, we had no further update on the actual root cause and most importantly no update from the captain to reassure us on what happened.
‘In fact we didn’t hear from the captain at all until we were 45 minutes from landing, and he made no mention whatsoever to the incident which I found to be perhaps the most disturbing.’
Another passenger, Emileigh Spurdens, claimed on Twitter the issue was caused when the pilot ‘pressed the wrong button’.
In a since deleted post, she wrote: ‘Flight from hell @British_Airways Always promising when the pilot presses the wrong button and the oxygen masks fall down.
‘Followed by many other unacceptable events on our flight from Singapore.’
Mr Webb added at the time of the incident he thought the crew were ‘making up excuses’ for what went wrong, although he does accept their explanation now.
British Airways has apologised for the incident and launched an investigation (file picture)
British Airways has apologised for the incident and have launched an investigation.
A spokesman said: ‘Our flight and cabin crew reassured customers after oxygen masks were deployed accidentally.
‘We are sorry for the distress this may have caused, and are investigating how it happened.’