Passengers on board a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight said they were stuck in the aircraft for eight consecutive hours at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Sep. 6, 2023.

Their pilot allegedly told them they could not get off the plane because the flight door could not be opened.

The flight, identified to be SQ833, was eventually cancelled on the early morning of Sep. 7.

SQ833 is a Singapore-bound flight which departs from Shanghai daily at 4:50pm.

What happened

According to one traveller who took to Xiaohongshu to vent about her unpleasant experience, the flight encountered an "engine problem" while preparing to take off.

After the plane returned to the boarding bay, the pilot asked the ground staff to conduct checks and maintenance works on the aircraft.

However, the user claimed that passengers were not able to get off the plane because the plane door "couldn't be opened", even though the cabin temperature kept going up.

Her sentiment was echoed by another Xiaohongshu user, who added that the aircraft's air conditioner was off for an hour while the passengers were waiting.

A Facebook user, who goes by the username Annie Li, also posted a video showing the situation onboard.

It was only until around midnight on Sep. 7 that passengers were informed that their flight was cancelled and they could leave the plane, according to a fourth passenger.

However, travellers were only faced with more chaos after disembarking from the plane, as there were allegedly only two ground staff at the airport to assist them, said Li.

Statement from SIA

In response to Mothership's queries, a SIA spokesperson said the company "sincerely apologises" for the inconvenience caused to customers by the flight cancellation of SQ833 on Wednesday.

The Airbus A380 aircraft was scheduled to operate from Shanghai to Singapore but encountered "technical issues" when the aircraft was still on the ground, the spokesperson said.

After the aircraft returned to the bay, engineers were brought onsite to try to rectify the issue.

While the engineers attempted to resolve the issue, customers were served meals, as well as refreshments.

SIA's ground staff were also onboard to provide assistance, according to the statement.

For safety reasons, the ground power had to be disabled while the checks were going on.

However, as more time was required to fix the technical issue, a decision was made to cancel the flight, added the spokesperson.

"Customers disembarked the aircraft at 12:30am, and hotel accommodation was arranged. All affected customers were rebooked on other flights on Sep. 7 and have since departed Shanghai," the statement read.

Why passengers were retained

As for the reason why customers were held in the aircraft for a prolonged period, the spokesperson said passengers were asked to remain on board to facilitate a "quicker departure" if its engineers could successfully resolve the technical issues.

However, as the issues continued to persist throughout the evening despite "the best efforts" of its engineers to find a solution, a decision was made to cancel the flight, added the spokesperson.

"We recognise that the customers could have been allowed to leave the aircraft earlier. SIA apologises to the affected customers for this, and we will review our procedures to avoid a recurrence," the statement read.

Top images via Sandy龙✨/Xiaohongshu & Annie Li/Facebook