Lusaka — PASSENGERS aboard an afternoon flight on a South African Airways (Flight SA 64) plane from Johannesburg on Tuesday were furious after the plane U-turned 40 minutes after take-off.

According to some passengers that were on the plane, the decision to fly back to the airport was prompted by the fact that some 42 passengers who were booked on the same flight were mistakenly left behind after an airport transfer bus took them to a wrong plane.

The plane's captain was contacted about 40 minutes after take-off to fly back to Johannesburg and pick up the passengers.

According to passengers, the captain was apologetic and said it was the first time that such a thing had happened in his career.

Under normal circumstances, a plane would only fly back when it has a fault or when there is bad weather.

The plane was scheduled to arrive at Lusaka International Airport at 13:30 hours but it only arrived at 15:00 hours after a delay of about one hour at Johannesburg International Airport.