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Furious man urges passengers to ‘occupy’ plane after Bali flight delay

A furious flyer stages a sit-in protest as he urges passengers to ”occupy” a plane after it was delayed.

The angry man had boarded the Boeing 737 for a flight from Jakarta, Indonesia, to the island of Bali on October 2.

The initial take-off slot at 5.55pm had already been missed due to ”technical issues” which meant the plane arrived late.

By the time passengers sat down in their seats, the destination airport had closed for the evening.

With the plane grounded on the apron, cabin crew asked passengers to return to the airport waiting room just before midnight.

But the man, who says in the clip he is a lawyer, stood in the aisle and told fellow travellers to ”occupy” the aircraft.

Speaking in Indonesian, he said: ”There was another plane going to Medan which has been delayed for seven hours. It has still not departed.

”The passengers were given 300,000IDR (740 Baht) and they still haven’t left. Do you want money and they still don’t fly?”

Angry passengers respond in unison by yelling ”no”.

Airport security and police boarded the plane and tried to talk to the man but he continued his rant.

He said: ”If we get off the plane it’s not going anywhere tonight. Lion Air will not fly us at all. There is a reason they want us to leave.

”Now we are in charge of this plane. We will occupy this plane, ask for food, ask for anything. If we stand together we can do it.

”If we sit in the airport what guarantees do we have?”

Enthusiastic passengers reply with cries of ”yes, yes.”

But despite the man’s resistance, passengers were eventually taken off the plane and housed overnight.

They made the three-hour flight from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, the next morning.

Lion Air PR manager Rama Ditya Handoko said passengers would receive compensation for the delay.

He said: ”This happened on October 2, 2017 night at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

”The plane initially experienced a delay for technical reasons with the flight.

”The airline was forced to delay the plane’s departure that night and the destination airport was closed.

”The rights of the disadvantaged passengers have been fulfilled in accordance with the Minister of Transportation Regulation.”

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