A British Airways flight to Crete was forced to make an unscheduled return to Gatwick after an overpowering smell similar to that of cannabis filled the cabin.

Passengers on Thursday’s 8.15am flight to Heraklion complained of a foul odour and the pilot turned the plane back as a precaution. The flight was diverted over Paris and met by fire crews when it landed at Gatwick 90 minutes later.

Passengers were transferred to a rescheduled flight at around noon. One of them, Simon Skinner, tweeted:

@British_Airways flight to heraklion turned back after nasty smell. Disappointed holidaymakers, chance to excel with rapid turnaround? — Simon Skinner (@firstlight40) July 21, 2016

Another passenger, Stuart Barnes, told the Sun: “There was a faint smell when we got on. We were told that they hoped when they put the air conditioning on it would clear, but it got even stronger.

“You could tell straight away what it was. Everyone at the back of the plane was saying it smelled of cannabis. We’ve been to Amsterdam and we know what it smells like. Our daughters could smell it but didn’t know what it was.

“BA have been very quiet at giving us an explanation. All they said was the cabin crew was ill from a pungent smell at the back of the aircraft. We were four rows from the back and the whole back of the plane stank. The smell was unmistakable.”

The incident delayed British tourists waiting in Heraklion for the return flight by up to six hours.

A BA spokeswoman said no evidence of cannabis or anybody smoking cannabis was found on board. She added: “Our pilot returned the aircraft to Gatwick as a precaution following reports of an unidentified strong smell in the cabin.



“We are sorry for the delay to our customers’ journeys.”