Co-pilot praised for helping load luggage on delayed flight at Manchester Airport

A co-pilot has been praised by passengers after he was seen loading luggage to help get a severely delayed airplane ‘on its way’ at Manchester Airport.

Passenger Jenny Cook took to Twitter to to implore travel agency TUI to get the pilot, known only as Simon, ‘an excellence award’ after he was seen helping baggage handlers with the heavy lifting yesterday.

Her tweet read: “Please RT @TUIUK @TUIGroup can we get Simon the co pilot of the TOM2744 flying from Manchester on 30th May an excellence award?

“He is out on the tarmac in the rain helping to load the bags to try and get us on our way after 30 hours delay so far.”

Footage shared in response to Jenny’s tweet showed Simon donning a TUI hi-vis vest and hauling luggage onto the conveyor-belt alongside one baggage handler, who appeared to have been tasked with the job alone. 

Simon was reportedly cheered and applauded by passengers on the flight, who had reportedly been waiting thirty hours for their flight to Crete to depart, due to delays.

Read More: Manchester Airport chaos ‘worse than ever’ as passengers miss flights amid lengthy queues

Jenny shared an update a few hours later to say that they had landed and ‘whizzed through’ Heraklion Airport, noting ‘what a different experience over here’. 

Manchester Airport yesterday said it was ‘aware of the challenges being faced by a number of airlines and handling agents’ in a statement issued to passengers planning on travelling in the coming weeks.

The statement continued: “Airlines and their ground handlers are responsible for their own check-in and baggage handling services. Passengers are advised to direct any questions or concerns about these issues, or anything relating to their flight, to their airline, who will be best placed to respond.

“However, this is not the experience we want passengers to have at Manchester Airport, and we are sorry to hear customers have faced disruption.”

The airport went on to say they are in contact with the senior management teams of the affected airlines, and are working to understand the cause of the problems and how best to find a solution.

They continued: “Our colleagues are on hand in the terminal to provide assistance to customers and we are working hard to ensure security waiting times are as quick as possible.

“It remains our advice that passengers should arrive three hours before their flight and to be as prepared as they can be for their journey through the airport.”