“The plane’s gone”: Passengers left ‘gobsmacked’ as Jet2 flight ‘leaves them behind’ at Manchester Airport
“It’s unfathomable. I don’t even think this has ever happened before.”
11:59, 19 Jan 2026Updated 11:59, 19 Jan 2026
Passengers for the Jet2 plane waiting in the stairwell where they were ‘left behind'(Image: MEN)
Passengers at Manchester Airport have been left ‘gobsmacked’ after a Jet2 flight took off to Spain without them.
The flight to Alicante departed without dozens off passengers this morning (Monday, January 19) who were left waiting in a stairwell to board the plane. The holidaymakers had shown their passports to the airline’s staff and had their boarding passes scanned but were left standing in the stairwell for up to 40 minutes without any idea of what was going on.
They were under the impression that they were waiting for a member of staff to open the doors to let them onto the stairs up to the plane, or onto a bus to take them to the aircraft. The plane then took off without them.
The passengers, who are a group of at least 35 people, have now reportedly been told there was an ‘error on the stairwell directions’. The airline has issued an apology to the customers and said they are investigating the incident as a ‘matter of urgency’.
Matt, from Denton, was one of the passengers due to travel on the LS879 flight to Alicante, scheduled for 7am. He said he was ‘gobsmacked’ over what happened and claimed Jet2 staff had told him that it had ‘never happened before’.
The stairwell were the passengers were left waiting(Image: MEN)
Matt told the Manchester Evening News how he and his son had arrived at the airport on time, made their way through security then headed to the gate with time to spare when the flight was called. After passengers on the first half of the plane were called through boarding, the number range for Matt’s seat was called.
He said: “So we’ve all come to the terminal and everybody’s gone through from 26 to 40, then they called the rest of us. We’ve all gone through to the gate and boarded.
“But instead of carrying on onto the plane, there were some stairs so the herd mentality is that we all went down the stairs and followed each other. There was a lot of us.
“And then we’re thinking ‘why aren’t these doors open’. We thought a bus would come for us and take us to the plane.
“We were there for 10 minutes, 20, 30, then we thought ‘what’s going on’. We were literally stuck like caged animals.”
Matt said an airport worker then came over from the runway to ask what was going on. He then reportedly told the passengers ‘the plane’s gone’.
The plane, and the passengers’ luggage, took off without them(Image: MEN)
Matt said he was told that staff do not carry a headcount once passengers have boarded the plane. “I am gobsmacked at the fact they don’t do a headcount.
“That plane is at least 36 people light, it’s bizarre. You’d think the captain would ask if they had a full flight.”
Matt said he and the other passengers had been given a £10 voucher from Jet2 while waiting to find out when the next flight would be available to them to Alicante. “There’s lots of elderly here as well”, he added.
“I’ve got my son here who suffers from anxiety and I’ve brought him to take him away. It’s like an episode of Fawlty Towers, you’ve never seen anything like it.
“They’re saying now that there should have been the red rope to divert you onto the plane but that wasn’t, so everyone just went down. It’s unfathomable. I don’t even think this has ever happened before.”
In a statement, a Jet2 spokesperson said: “We are aware that flight LS879 from Manchester to Alicante departed without some customers this morning, and we are investigating this as a matter of urgency with the airport. Our team are looking after these customers, and we have already arranged for them to take other flights to Alicante today.
“We would of course like to apologise to these customers.”
