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Flights can be hard enough but a photo posted to twitter on a flight from London seemingly showed the journey from hell.
Twitter user Matthew Harris, posted the photo of a passenger sitting on a seat that had no back and said “how can this be allowed?”
#easyjet beats @Ryanair to have backless seats. @IATA @EASA this is flight 2021 Luton to Geneva. How can this be allowed. @GeneveAeroport @easyJet_press @easyJet pic.twitter.com/EthMoWRR8P
— Matthew Harris (@mattiasharris) August 6, 2019
But there was one problem — it wasn't. Budget airline EasyJet told CNN that no passengers were assigned to the broken seats and the person pictured had not been permitted to sit or travel there — which the user who posted the photo admitted three hours later.
By then it was too late as the photo had already gone viral on social media with users blasting the airline for its lack of safety. The viral post has already garnered 23,000 retweets and 3000 comments. The image was also reported on by a number of British news sites, including The Sun, Mail Online and The Mirror on Tuesday afternoon.
Once the photo hed been posted, Easyjet replied by asking Harris to remove the photo. Easyjet's tweet created even more debate, which boosted the virality of the post even further as it appeared to Twitter users, that Easyjet was trying to cover up the backless seats.
“Absolutely not.This is a real photo of a plane currently decending (sic) to Geneva,” Harris replied to Easyjet.
While EasyJet's request to delete the photo created a public relations nightmare, there ended up being no broader conspiracy. In a follow up tweet three hours later the truth was revealed by Harris.
"One has to wonder how safe the rest of the plane was. This was her seat. The lady was moved to a spare seat once the flight was fully boarded. Not sure what would have happened if the flight was full. My partner took the photo."
Easyjet followed up with Harris in one final tweet emphasizing “safety is our highest priority”.
Hello Matthew, please see the below picture. – Dan pic.twitter.com/kjzRxYh3MH
— easyJet (@easyJet) August 6, 2019
The only unsolved mystery left is if the passengers in the row behind were allowed to put there feet up.
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A version of this article appeared on CNN