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So BBC why is this news on the 20th Aug when it happened on the 1st, almost three weeks ago. Take it you were unable to find something current?
Quote
Holidaymakers in flight bag chaos
Newcastle Airport said it was disappointed by the disruption More than 150 holidaymakers on a flight to Crete were told they either had to fly without their bags or almost half of them would be left behind in the UK.
The passengers were on the runway at Newcastle Airport when the Viking Airlines pilot broke the news that the plane needed to lose weight.
The flight eventually took off without their luggage after crews failed to find 70 volunteers to leave the plane.
A spokesman for Viking Airlines declined to comment.
Holidaymaker Sandra Kendall, 53, of Forest Hall, North Tyneside, said chaos was created by the ultimatum on 1 August.
Holiday spoiled
She said: "After an hour of upheaval the pilot announced they would take everybody and their cases, but that we would have to defuel at Newcastle and refuel at Verona.
"We all had to go back to the departure lounge but once there the Newcastle ground staff came and said either 70 people would have to remain with their cases or everybody goes with no luggage and it will be sent on.
"They said we had five minutes to decide as the cabin crew were nearly out of flying time."
Mrs Kendall and her husband John eventually boarded the plane in the early hours of the morning after a delay of three hours.
They say the two-week break, costing more than £1,000, was spoiled as they did not receive all their bags until four days into the holiday.
A spokeswoman for Newcastle Airport said various factors, including climatic conditions, could affect the payload that an aircraft can handle on any particular day.
She said: "It is very disappointing that passengers travelling from Newcastle International Airport have had their holiday plans disrupted as a result of this and we sympathise wholeheartedly with their frustrations."
The passengers were on the runway at Newcastle Airport when the Viking Airlines pilot broke the news that the plane needed to lose weight.
I guess we will be seeing it on Oprah, then. Unless it also had a violent argument with the A-310 in the next hanger, in which case they will BOTH be on Jerry Springer !
I saw this story and just filled in a complaint form at the BBC. This is a total non-story, and I don't know we're paying the BBC journalist to write such trivia! It's too minor even for the local free rag reporting fete's and vicars dropping teacups etc! I object to my licence fee paying for this. BBC news is obviously overstaffed if they spend time on this level of (non) story!
I would encourage any other licence payers to also object to this kind ogf journalism.
Was there anything like +45C at NCL or reduced TODA on that day?
Viking operates MD80 (MD83, I think). If Capt was looking to offload 70 pax this is almost 7 tons incl baggage. I can imagine unxpected temperature or wind varition would call 7 tonns off from a 747, but not from MD83. For MD83 7 tons is as much as 2 hours flying... There is something more behind this story. Just wrong aircraft for the route/load or...?
This is not the first time that this particular carrier has had problems with weight - flights previous to this have also left baggage behind when the aircraft has operated NCL-HER. From what I hear groundstaff despair of the flight, knowing there are issues!?
I seem to remember hearing the same complaints last summer. I also seem to remember they only have issues off one end at Newcastle yet the other end is fine?
If so, why do Kosmar continue to use Viking knowing their aircraft struggle in certain conditions
If it has happened more than once, surely an aircraft cannot be over fuelled so many times (the flight having commenced in May). If indeed the aircraft is incapable of making such a journey, with a Y161 load, plus charter baggage, which is given an average of 15/20K then XL/Kosmar need to rethink charter needs? Or if the aircraft does have the range are Skywings (the aircraft operator) procedures accurate and are fuel calculations accurate etc??? There are numerous scenarios, though most importantly, given recent happenings, is safety. If the aircraft load sheet shows it is overweight, then something must be offloaded. Coincidentally, Air Bee have reportedly left bags behind on NAP-NCL sectors recently.
One question though. OHY operate MD88's NCL-Turkey and manage to carry all pax/baggage. Are these engines an uprated version to those on the VIK/Skywings aircraft?
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