Jet2 flight to Alicante leaves over 30 passengers behind at Manchester
January 20, 2026
More than 30 passengers were left behind when a Jet2 flight from Manchester Airport to Alicante departed without them, despite their boarding passes having been scanned and them being directed toward the aircraft.
As reported by the Manchester Evening News, the incident, involving Jet2 flight LS879, occurred on the morning of 19 January. The incident raises questions about the airline’s boarding reconciliation, final passenger checks, and load-control safeguards.
What Jet2 stranded passengers say happened
According to passengers quoted by the Manchester Evening News, the group arrived at the gate on time, had their boarding passes scanned, and were then instructed by staff to proceed down a stairwell near the stand. Passengers did so only to find a blocked exit.
According to reports, the incident was caused by misdirection of the crowd after they went through the boarding process at the gate. Passengers were led to a stairwell that should have been blocked off in one direction, leaving only the pathway to the aircraft.
However, a rope barrier was not up when these passengers descended. Passengers followed others down the wrong path, where they were met by a locked door onto the apron.
Believing they were following the normal boarding route, around 30–35 passengers waited there for the door to open—up to 40 minutes—without any announcements, staff updates, or indication that anything was wrong. An airport worker apparently found the stranded passengers and informed them they had missed their flight.
As one traveller told MEN: “We were just following where we were told to go. No one came to check on us. Then suddenly someone appeared and said, ‘The plane’s gone’.”
Passengers left behind included elderly travellers and families with children, who expressed confusion and disbelief that the aircraft had already departed for Spain without them.
The passengers reportedly received £10 refreshment vouchers from Jet2 while they waited for other flight arrangements.
Jet2 is launching an investigation
In a statement to AGN on the incident, a Jet2 spokesperson said:
“We are aware that flight LS879 from Manchester to Alicante departed without some customers yesterday morning (19th January) and can confirm that a full investigation into the matter is urgently taking place with the airport. Our team looked after these customers by arranging other flights to take them to Alicante yesterday, and we would of course like to apologise to them.”
The key question: How was this Je2 boarding error not caught before take-off?
Beyond the customer service failure, the incident raises questions about how the aircraft was cleared to depart with dozens of booked passengers missing.
Under standard airline procedures, several checks normally take place before departure:
1. Boarding reconciliation
Airlines use a Departure Control System (DCS) to record every scanned boarding pass. This creates a live record of who has actually boarded, not just who checked in, but it only accounts for boarding as
Before doors close, ground staff are expected to reconcile boarded passengers against the manifest and confirm the final count.
However, in this case, the gate staff may have been unaware that dozens of passengers who were scanned as boarding had not made it to the aircraft.
2. Load sheet and weight & balance
The final passenger count feeds directly into the load sheet, which is reviewed by load control and signed off by the flight crew.
Passenger weight is calculated by multiplying approved average weights by the number of passengers on board. While margins are built in, large discrepancies in passenger numbers are supposed to be flagged and corrected before pushback.
However, the load sheet for this flight may have been populated from scanned boarding passes, with no visual confirmation that all passengers were on board.
None of this implies the aircraft was unsafe—weight margins exist for this reason—but it does raise serious procedural questions.
3. Crew awareness
Cabin crew do not conduct a manual headcount, but they are normally aware of approximate cabin occupancy. A shortfall of several dozen passengers—especially on a leisure route—would usually be noticeable once boarding is complete.
It is unclear why Jet2’s cabin crew did not notice more than two dozen empty seats on this aircraft.
Why the Jet2 stranded passengers incident is unusual
Minor passenger boarding discrepancies do happen, with late no-shows and last-minute offloads—but a situation where 35 passengers are scanned, not onboard, and still missing as the aircraft takes off is highly unusual.
It suggests a breakdown at multiple points:
- Why were the boarding scans not correctly reconciled against the passengers on the aircraft?
- What happened to the missing passenger flow barrier that would have led passengers in the right direction toward the aircraft?
- How did gate staff lose visibility of a large group of passengers for 40 minutes?
- Why didn’t the cabin crew notice 35 empty seats on the aircraft?
AGN asked the Jet2 spokesperson about these open questions directly, but did not receive a reply. The airline and airport will want to examine these more closely as part of their investigation. Any findings could lead to changes in boarding supervision, reconciliation checks or gate-area controls.
The lesson from the Jet2 incident for now is that a routine start to a holiday can be derailed when small process failures cascade into a major airline operational error, leaving passengers in a lurch.
Featured Image: kirill_makarov / stock.adobe.com
