BRITISH AIRWAYS ARRANGED a last-minute flight to Dublin from London Heathrow last night after hundreds of passengers were nearly left stranded due to an apparent overbooking of an earlier flight. 

Footage and photographs at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 emerged on social media showing queues of passengers who had arrived at the airport and found themselves unable to board the 8.55pm Aer Lingus flight back to Dublin. 

pic.twitter.com/Kwh3sN5PrI

— Matt Reed (@mattreedhk) December 20, 2020

One person who turned up for the flight wrote on Twitter that “hundreds” of people had arrived for the 8.55pm flight. 

It was initially thought that British Airways would put stranded passengers up in a hotel for the night but it later emerged that a last-minute flight was arranged. 

“All of these incredibly stressed Irish people in #Terminal 5 with nowhere to go,” one person tweeted, showing a video of passengers wearing masks gathered at the terminal.

Another person wrote: “Most of this crowd don’t even know what’s happening. Waiting to rebook the flight and get put up in a hotel.”

Scenes currently at @HeathrowAirport! Hundreds of passengers awaiting communication from @British_Airways regarding overbooking of #Dublin flights this evening! #Heathrow #britishairways #aerlingus @rtenews @SkyNews #gettinghome https://t.co/dRJIRiGafo pic.twitter.com/ac0zMT8ybV

— Emma (@EmmaEgan1) December 20, 2020

There was demand last night on flights from London as passengers tried to get home following the government’s decision to ban flights from Britain to Ireland for 48 hours amid concerns over the emergence of a mutated strain of coronavirus in London and southeast England. 

According to reports, British Airways contacted the Irish Government to arrange for the last-minute flight from London to Dublin, which departed at 11pm. 

A spokesperson for BA said: “Our teams looked after customers while we urgently looked into alternative arrangements to get them on their way to Dublin as quickly as possible.”