Passengers mistakenly told that their British Airways flight was about to crash

Imagine being told that your plane is about to crash while you’re 35,000 feet in the air. That’s exactly what happened to passengers on a British Airways flight.

The plane was halfway between Miami and London's Heathrow airport, flying over the Atlantic ocean, when an automated message told them that their plane could be about to crash. The incident occurred at 3am.

The Irish Independent reports that many passengers who were awake and heard the announcement began screaming. Cabin staff quickly reassured passengers that the message had been played by accident. Twice. Not exactly what you want to hear at 3am on a crowded flight, right?

“It was about 3am. An alarm sounded and we were told we were about to land in the sea. I thought we were going to die,” said a man from Edinburgh who was onboard the plane.

“My wife was crying and passengers were screaming. Then they played an announcement telling us to just ignore the warnings,” he explained.

When the plane landed British Airways staff were handing out letters apologising for the incident.

“When we landed they were handing out letters apologising, but it was the worst experience of my life. I don’t think BA should get away with this,” said another passenger.

Speaking about the scare on flight BA 0206 last Friday, a BA spokesman said: “The cabin crew cancelled the announcement immediately and sought to reassure customers that the flight was operating normally. We apologise to customers for causing them undue concern.”

Last year a similar incident occurred on another BA flight to Hong Kong where an automated female voice told passengers: “This is an emergency announcement. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water.”

“People were terrified, we all thought we were going to die. They said the pilot hit the wrong button because they were so close together,” said passenger Michelle Lord.

British Airways have apologised for the “undue distress.”