Vueling Safety Suspicions

When the Vueling captain came on the PA and told his passengers: "Don't worry, we're isolating that part of the plane for safety reasons", he wasn't being as diplomatic as he could have been. The plane, an Airbus A320, flight VY6101, was to fly a scheduled connection between Lisbon (Portugal) and the international airport Barajas of Madrid (Spain). Passengers noted that the whole section of seats on the port side of the plane had been taped off with something similar to "crime scene- do not enter" tape (image at tinyurl.com/2dkalg) and passengers were being forced to occupy other seats nearby, outside the tape. All but three of the 32 rows on that LH side of the plane were taped off, according to an El Mundo reporter among the travelers. Passengers took photos of the scene but were chided by cabin staff when they did so. Some passengers became nervous, asking whether the plane could fly straight while loaded so lopsidedly. The announcement started some emotional consternation and the Portuguese police force was obliged to intervene to calm the passengers - some of whom then elected to spend the night in the Portuguese capital while waiting for another flight the following day. The flight to Madrid left after a three hour delay and arrived at destination without further incident. A spokesperson for Spanish low-cost airline Vueling later said that the problem had simply been with one of the aircraft's eight emergency exit doors. Regulations demanded that the passenger load be limited, redistributed and segregated when an evacuation chute was unserviceable. Of course if that minor glitch isn't explained with great clarity, the scope for misinterpretation becomes intense.