Shocking Moment Passengers Are Told Their Plane Is 'Too Heavy for Takeoff'

EasyJet, a U.K.-based airline, removed more than a dozen passengers from a plane as the aircraft was "over the weight limits" and unable to take off.

The moment was captured in a viral video on TikTok posted by Ryan Williams (@razza699). A message overlaid on the clip reads: "Easyjet asked passengers to get off the plane as it was too heavy for takeoff."

A spokesperson for easyJet told Newsweek that 19 passengers on Flight EZY3364, which flew from the Spanish island of Lanzarote to Liverpool in England on July 6, "volunteered to travel on a later flight as a result of the aircraft being over the weight limits for the weather conditions."

The spokesperson said: "This is a routine operational decision in these circumstances and weight restrictions are in place for all airlines for safety reasons.

"In the event that a flight would exceed weight limits, we ask for passengers to volunteer to transfer to a later flight free of charge, which is what happened on this occasion and volunteers are provided with compensation in line with regulations."

The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) explains that passengers can be "asked or forced to give up" their seat on a plane in certain situations. This is known as being "bumped" from a flight or "denied boarding."

This can happen when a flight has been oversold to account for any flyers who may not actually show up to a flight they booked or for other reasons, such as "using a smaller aircraft than planned," the CAA said.

Delta Air Lines had the highest number of passengers who were denied boarding on a voluntary basis (29,893) in the period between January and March this year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's latest Air Travel Consumer Report, published in June.

The DOT study was based on data from "all U.S. airlines with at least half of one percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues plus any branded codeshare partners."

Delta was followed by American Airlines, Southwest, United and Spirit in the top five airlines with the most number of voluntary denied boardings, according to the DOT survey.

The CAA advises that "if you volunteer to be bumped, it's up to you and your airline to agree compensation," which could be in the form of cash or vouchers. Volunteers are also entitled to either a refund or getting booked onto an alternative flight.

Passengers in the latest viral clip who were willing to get off the plane were offered "up to €500 per passenger" by easyJet, according to an announcement by the pilot of the plane made over the PA system.

The pilot explained: "Because there are so many of you, it's a pretty heavy aircraft we've got today. That heavy aircraft combined with a fairly short runway here in Lanzarote and some winds, which aren't completely favorable at the moment, mean that [under] the current environmental conditions here in Lanzarote, the aircraft is too heavy at the moment to depart.

"Of course the one way to solve a problem with a heavy aircraft is to make it slightly lighter. If possible, I'd like to ask for up to potentially 20 volunteers to choose not to fly to Liverpool tonight."

'I'd Be Running Off That Flight'

Several users on TikTok claimed that they would have been quick to volunteer to leave the plane.

User tomevanscomedy noted: "Did you hear how many seatbelts unbuckled when he said €500."

Jet&Harley said: "My arm would've been up so quickly I'd have dislocated my shoulder."

PaigeyT wrote: "I'd be running off that flight collecting those euros for an extra night on holiday."

Scotty B26 agreed, stating: "erm ... get paid to stay on holiday a bit longer, yes please."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok.

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