Wizz Air flight W95004 was due to fly from London Luton to the Albanian capital, Tirana.
However, passengers were told the plane was going nowhere as CCTV footage apparently showed a passenger swiping a phone in the airport.
The plane was delayed from take-off by 88 minutes due to the saga, which ended after the cabin crew said there was, in fact, no item on the plane.
An announcement made by a member of the cabin crew just before the plane was scheduled to take off said: “We know the phone is on board, now we should leave in two minutes – we cannot because of this, this is a security issue.
“We cannot have an item that does not belong to anyone on this flight. We cannot depart knowing that there’s something that does not belong to this flight.”
One 28-year-old passenger, who asked not to be named, said staff had called the missing phone and told passengers they could hear the plane’s announcements when somebody picked up, leading them to believe a passenger on board had swiped it.
The passenger said, “You’d think airports would be more secure, and this would be resolved much more swiftly.
“You’re not even safe at Luton airport, somewhere you think is a safe space.”
Nearly an hour after the first announcement, a different member of the crew announced that staff were looking at CCTV footage to find the culprit.
He said: “We still want to give the chance for this potential person who made the mistake to bring it up before they find it in the video.
“Once again, please voluntarily come to the front or to my colleagues at the back.”
With the phone still missing, police then boarded the plane as angry passengers remained at Luton.
Then, over an hour after the flight was due to take off, exasperated cabin crew members announced to apoplectic passengers that there was in fact “no item” on the plane at all.
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They said: “There’s no item on this plane, we’re happy now with our security position to go.
“I appreciate your understanding of this situation. It is for us as well quite a new one, we’re doing our best and we will be on our way to Tirana very soon.”
Wizz Air and Bedfordshire Police have been contacted for comment.
