Why passengers are not allowed off the plane when the flight is delayed: expert answers
Passengers are often outraged by the fact that when a flight is delayed and they are already on board, they may not be allowed to leave the plane for hours.
Sean Tipton from the Association of British Travel Agents explained that passengers are forced to wait on the plane - even if there are hours of delays - because usually planes are waiting for a place to take off during a delayed departure. According to him, allowing passengers to disembark and reboard can lead to the airline missing its departure slot, which "causes even more delays," as reported by Sky News.
Of course, it's "frankly annoying" to sit on the tarmac for two or three hours, he says, but he emphasizes that it's "actually for the convenience of the passengers."
According to Tipton, under airline regulations in Europe, passengers should be offered the opportunity to disembark after being on the runway for five hours - but this rarely happens.
So he advises being patient and waiting for takeoff.