Thai Airways flight: Passengers suffer panic attacks, sweat profusely on plane that never took off

Passengers were trapped for two hours on a plane after its air conditioning system malfunctioned. Photo / 123RF

A broken air conditioning system led to passengers “trapped” on a plane for two hours suffering panic attacks, sweating profusely, and having difficulty breathing before the flight that never took off was cancelled.

On July 25, passengers fully boarded Thai Airways flight TG17, which was scheduled to depart at 9.25pm (local time) from London’s Heathrow Airport to Bangkok in Thailand, when the malfunction was discovered, reported Viral Press.

According to the New York Post, passengers were stuck inside the Boeing 777 aircraft while flight staff tried to fix the problem.

Video circulating on social media shows multiple passengers in T-shirts fanning themselves with the flight safety cards. One woman who appeared to have slightly wet hair, presumably due to sweat, was also wiping her arms with a flannel cloth.

Passenger Warawalan Maksaen, a 26-year-old student at the University of Exeter, said people “couldn’t leave”.

“We were hot and couldn’t breathe. At least in a sauna, you can leave when you want,” the 26-year-old told the New York Post.

“This was like a form of torture.”

One person on board also had a panic attack, an unnamed passenger claimed when speaking to the thing to eat or drink until finally a flight attendant opened a door for fresh air a nd distributed water from the kitchen section.

One person onboard also had a panic attack, an unnamed passenger claimed when speaking to the New York Post.

They deplaned at 11pm when it was clear no technician was available to help and were given two options: “We could either sleep in the airport until the rescheduled flight or take a bus to find a hotel,” Maksaen claimed.

It’s not the first time passengers have said they had a dissatisfying experience with the Thai airline.

In January 2020, an Auckland woman and her two daughters were left traumatised after staff from Thai Airways said they were “too big” to sit in business class.