LONDON— British Airways (BA) passengers endured a harrowing seven-hour delay aboard flight BA872 at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) before firefighters intervened due to a suspected toxic air event.
The flight, bound for Kraków Airport (KRK) on July 6, was ultimately canceled after multiple failed repair attempts of the cabin’s air conditioning system left passengers stranded in increasingly unsafe conditions, PYOK reported.
Photo: Nabil Molinari | FlickrBritish Airways Passengers Trapped for Hours
Passengers aboard the British Airways Airbus A319, a 20-year-old aircraft, were held on the tarmac while technicians repeatedly attempted to fix a recurring fault in the air conditioning system.
The issue reportedly involved a fuse that kept blowing, leaving the ventilation system malfunctioning.
Despite the escalating discomfort, passengers were not allowed to deplane or return to the terminal. British Airways provided only minimal refreshments—two small bottles of water and a breakfast bar—during the prolonged delay.
According to passenger Alan Adkin, who posted his account on a British Airways complaints forum, it was not until airport firefighters boarded the aircraft and detected air quality concerns that evacuation was ordered.
“The firemen finally evacuated us, saying the air had turned toxic,” he wrote, calling the experience “terrible” and “inhuman.”
Photo: By Mertbiol – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=130784832History of Fume Events
The grounded Airbus A319 had previously been involved in a serious fume event in September 2024. During that incident, pilots were forced to don oxygen masks due to noxious cabin odors while flying from London to Aberdeen. The flight diverted to Manchester (MAN) for emergency handling.
While British Airways prefers the term “odor event,” industry critics and safety campaigners often describe such incidents as “fume events” or “toxic air exposures.”
These events are typically linked to contaminated bleed air—air extracted from the engine and used to ventilate the cabin. When this system malfunctions, vaporized engine oil or hydraulic fluids can leak into the air supply, leading to health concerns for passengers and crew.
In 2019, British Airways experienced over 50 such events in a single month, particularly across its A320 family fleet. Reports from that time include plumes of smoke and strong chemical odors filling cabins, sometimes resulting in flight diversions.
Photo: By aeroprints.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32564347Legal Action and Ongoing Health Concerns
The issue of contaminated cabin air has attracted increasing legal scrutiny. In May, United Airlines (UA) flight attendant Darlene Fricchione filed a lawsuit after she allegedly suffered severe and ongoing health effects from toxic air inhalation during an incident aboard an Airbus A319 at Denver International Airport (DEN) in 2023.
Fricchione alleges that Airbus aircraft designs allow harmful contaminants to enter the bleed air system. Her symptoms reportedly include chronic headaches and nosebleeds, supporting claims that toxic air events can cause lasting medical damage.
While not all passengers suffer long-term effects, campaigners argue that repeated exposure or high-intensity incidents can result in significant harm, particularly for crew members with frequent exposure.
Photo: By Colin Cooke Photo – https://www.flickr.com/photos/cooke1/51288346002/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114434883Airline Response and Aircraft Return to Service
British Airways has not officially commented on the July 6 incident. Despite the serious nature of the event and passenger complaints, the affected Airbus A319 was returned to service the following morning.
Critics argue that this points to a larger issue within the industry: a lack of regulatory clarity and urgency in dealing with toxic air complaints.
With no unified definition or mandatory reporting standard for such events, passengers and crew often face prolonged risk without transparency or accountability.
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British Airways Flight Met by Fire Crews at London Heathrow
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