Passengers on the easyJet flight back from Spain say they were asked to vote if they should fly (Picture: Getty images)

Passengers on an easyJet flight back from Spain claimed the pilot asked them to vote on whether he should try to fly a plane with a faulty engine.

The travellers were due to fly from Malaga to Bristol but had already faced 36 hours of delays when the pilot is said to have asked for a show of hands on whether they should fly.

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Only a dozen people said the flight should take off while other passengers had panic attacks and demanded to be let off the plane.

However, the airline has denied this ever happened, saying the pilot had actually asked if they wished to stay on the plane or disembark after one of the two engines faltered.




The passengers were delayed at Malaga airport for 36 hours (Picture: Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)

Witnesses claimed the pilot told the 150 passengers on board that there was only a 50/50 chance that he would be able to get both engines working, according to the Bristol Post.

The flight had already been delayed by 36 hours causing passengers to remain in hotels overnight before they boarded the plane on Saturday afternoon.

One man from Bath who had been appointed as a spokesman for the passengers said he was sick when he heard the vote being called.

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‘The pilot himself said he’d never heard or done anything like this in 37 years of flying,’ he added.

‘He gave us the option, asked us what he should do. He asked for a show of hands. There were some who just wanted to try it, they wanted to get home. But most didn’t. There were girls hyperventilating, lots of people were panicking.

‘There were elderly people on there, and lots of children. The worst thing was we had to wait another hour or two before they would actually let us off the plane,’ he said.

The passengers then flew home on a subsequent flight later that day.

(Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A spokesman for EasyJet told Metro.co.uk: ‘The pilot attempted to use one engine to start the other engine as is normal procedure. Because he was aware that the passengers had already been considerably delayed due to a technical problem the pilot asked the passengers if they would like to get off or remain on board whilst the engine start up sequence continued.

‘Due to the technical issue, easyJet then decided to fly the passengers back on a replacement aircraft.

‘At no point did the pilot ask passengers to take a vote on flying the aircraft. Nor would we ever attempt to fly the aircraft without both engines working correctly.’