Passengers booked on a Vueling flight from Gatwick were told the plane departed empty because of delays at the West Sussex airport. Flight VY6209 was due to take off for the Italian city of Florence at 8.20pm on Monday.
But the Airbus A319 - which can carry up to 144 passengers - left nearly two hours late with no-one on board for the 734-mile flight. Nisha Gupta, 32, from Windsor, Berkshire, was booked on the flight with her husband Ash.
She told the PA news agency they were forced to queue for more than four hours to check in luggage, but when they arrived at the departure gate they were informed no passengers could board the plane due to a staff shortage.
