A plane passenger has gone viral after documenting how her four-hour flight lasted twice as long and was even forced to land on an entirely different island to its intended destination.
When Gilska Weerakkody, 24, and her friends took off from London Gatwick airport in the U.K. on August 19, they were supposed to land at Madeira Airport (also referred to as Funchal Airport) in Portugal approximately four hours later. However, what should have been a straightforward journey became anything but.
Weerakkody explained to Newsweek that the easyJet flight couldn’t land “due to extreme winds.” Following two failed attempts, the pilot had to land at Porto Santo Airport instead, on an island nearly 60 kilometers (37 miles) away from Madeira.
When Newsweek contacted easyJet for comment, the airline confirmed that the flight was diverted but at no point was the safety of passengers compromised.
Representatives for the airline provided the following statement: “Due to strong winds in Funchal, easyjet flight EZY6403 from London Gatwick on 19th August diverted to Porto Santo where it landed safely. The flight then continued to Funchal when the weather improved.
“Safety is easyJet’s highest priority and while the weather was clearly outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers by the diversion and thank them for their patience and understanding.”
It was certainly a memorable experience, which left Weerakkody feeling “extremely stressed, anxious, and upset.” At one point, she recalls the pilot suggesting they might have to return to England.
“We couldn’t land, so after two failed attempts and circling in the air for a while, we landed in Porto Santo,” Weerakkody told Newsweek. “Everyone was panicking, babies were crying, their mothers were crying, and people were getting angry.”
Shortly after landing in Porto Santo and refueling, the pilot tried “one last time” to land at Madeira Airport. After two attempts he finally succeeded, and the passengers could disembark.
By the time they eventually landed, Weerakkody couldn’t have been happier to finally set foot on Portuguese soil.
“I nearly kissed the ground, I’d never been happier to set foot on land,” Weerakkody said.
The Social Media Reaction
Weerakkody documented her experience and shared the footage on TikTok (@gilskamusic), along with a flight radar map showing the bizarre back and forth journey. The clip went viral with over 14.7 million views and 1.7 million likes at the time of writing, which is beyond anything Weerakkody expected.
“A lot of people shared their stories about flying to Madeira,” she said. “I appreciate the captain for managing to land us safely, and even though it was terrifying, Madeira was beautiful, and my friends and I had a wonderful trip.”
While she can see the funny side, Weerakkody joked that she has “a fear of flying now.”
Since posting about the failed landings on TikTok, the video has amassed over 1,500 comments from shocked and amazed social media users.
One comment reads: “This is where my clapping when the plane lands habit begun cause landing in Madeira is an extreme sport.”
Another TikToker wrote: “The vibe in the plane must have been amazing when you guys landed.”
A different person responded: “The only time clapping on landing is acceptable.”
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