Recently, the East Airlines MU8544 flight from Wenzhou, Zhejiang to Shanghai was delayed for more than 40 minutes before taking off. The reason behind the delay was that a passenger brought a lighter on board.
On February 16th, a netizen posted that on the MU8544 flight that day, a passenger brought a lighter onto the plane, and later the passenger was escorted off the plane, with airline crew members inspecting other passengers’ luggage. Relevant videos showed crew members retrieving a backpack from the overhead compartment and inquiring about its ownership.
According to a report by “Vision News” on the 17th, a passenger named Xu Xu (pseudonym) on this flight stated that the plane was originally scheduled to take off at 6:30 am that morning but remained grounded for nearly 50 minutes before finally departing. She heard from other passengers that someone had brought a lighter on board and was discovered, although she did not personally witness it. She only saw the crew members opening the overhead compartments to inspect luggage, with the crew explaining that the delay was due to waiting for airport security personnel to handle the situation.
On the evening of the 16th, a customer service representative from East Airlines responded that on that day, the actual flight operated as Shanghai Airlines FM9526 flight, which was initially planned to depart from Wenzhou Longwan Airport at 6:30 am and arrive at Shanghai Pudong Airport at 7:40 am. The actual departure time was at 7:14 am, delayed for more than 40 minutes, and landed in Shanghai at 7:59 am.
As for whether the flight delay was caused by a passenger carrying a lighter, several customer service representatives from East Airlines stated that they were not sure and had not received any explanation regarding the reason for the delay.
Customer service personnel at Wenzhou Airport also confirmed that the departure of the FM9526 flight on the 16th was delayed for more than 40 minutes, with abnormal information due to a passenger causing the flight delay.
This news has garnered attention and raised questions among netizens.
Some netizens expressed concerns, questioning why the flight delay was allegedly caused by a passenger carrying a lighter for boarding even after passing security checks. Under what circumstances would security overlook prohibited items?
“More than 80% of the population in the country have never been on a plane and are unaware of what can or cannot be brought on board. This is clearly a case of security negligence.”
“The situations where security overlooks prohibited items may relate to lack of expertise, lack of responsibility, or passengers’ high skills in concealing lighters.”