British passengers – including some England football fans – have had to endure delays coming home from Germany after an “undefined odour” in the cabin forced their plane to turn back around.
A Eurowings flight EW8470 to Manchester took off from Berlin at around 8am local time on Monday, only to return back to the German capital around half an hour later.
In a statement, Eurowings said that “an air emergency was declared”, calling it “a standard procedure to obtain a prioritised landing”.
The plane “made an unscheduled return to Berlin… due to an undefined odour in the cabin” and was met by a fire brigade who inspected the aircraft.
“There were no findings. There was neither a fire nor smoke in the cabin,” Eurowings said in their statement.
“There was no danger to passengers or crew at any time. Safety is always the top priority at Eurowings.
“An alternative flight was arranged for the affected passengers. The guests were informed accordingly and provided with food vouchers at BER [Berlin Airport],” the airline added.
But some of the 150 passengers on board complained on the X social media platform claiming there was no representative from Eurowings at Berlin airport to aid with meal vouchers or rescheduling the flight.
Several said that there was smoke in the cabin before it landed.
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They also said that communication had been poor from Eurowings.
One Eurowings passenger flying from Berlin said they had suffered an eight-hour delay.
“No SMS, no updates, no staff to be seen. #itsnotcominghome #werenotcominghome,” the passenger wrote.
Another, posting to Eurowings, wrote: “Flight EW8470 – set off, smoke on board, returned to Berlin.
“No staff have advised what happens next, we have just been ejected into baggage collection so please explain: A) which belt will have baggage (isn’t on screens) and B) how I get a new flight to Manchester.”
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It is understood that a new flight is estimated to take off at 3.30pm local time (2.30pm UK time) – seven and a half hours after the original departure time.
