What: Ryanair en route from Fes, Morocco to Beauvais, France
Where: Liege, Belgium
When: Wed Nov 17, 2010
Who: 100+ passengers
Why: After leaving Morocco three hours late, the plane was unable to land in Beauvais because the airport had closed due to foggy weather conditions. After they diverted to Liege, some passengers became disruptive and refused to leave the plane. After an hour trying to get the passengers out, the crew only left when the passengers became abusive.

The exit doors were open, the toilets were locked and the lights were out. Passengers (mostly French) would not leave the plane until 3:30am when police became involved. (Reports are that 100 passengers staged a sit-in lasting from five to eight hours and refused to leave.) Passengers were upset at landing in Liege without warning.

Three other flights to Beauvais were also diverted to Liege without incident.

Buses were provided to take them to their destination.

George’s Point of View

A plane, completely abandoned by pilots and crew fearing for their safety, professional negotiators called in to coax rude and abusive passengers out of a dark plane with locked bathrooms…

Sure, no passenger would be tickled pink over a plane ride that takes them so far out of the way that they have to take a 350 mile bus ride back, but would the passengers have preferred crashing on the foggy Beauvais runway? What is missing here? We need Paul Harvey to tell us ….the rest of the story.