Featured Image Credit: Backgrid
Topics: Celebrity, James Corden, World News
Bec Oakes
James Corden recently stepped up as the 'voice of reason' following a nightmarish flight from Portugal to the UK.
Former Late Late Show host James Corden was recently photographed looking rather stressed as he spoke to British Airways staff in Lisbon, Portugal.
Publications initially called out the actor and presenter - who has previously made headlines for being 'rude' to staff at a New York restaurant - over the exchange.
However, a passenger who was travelling on the same flight as the 45-year-old has since explained exactly what happened, and it seems Corden's frustration was more than justified.
Advert
Speaking to Metro, the passenger - named Vanessa - explained that the plane circled for about 45 minutes following takeoff from Faro Airport without ever reaching altitude, before an automated announcement declared an emergency landing.
"It was something along the lines of: 'Gather your possessions as best you can, take off your shoes, and when you’re told to by the airplane staff, please adopt the brake position and when we land if you’re able, please find your nearest emergency exit and vacate the plane," she said.
However, while passengers were quickly assured that this was not the case, there was an issue with the aircraft's wing and it was forced to land in Lisbon.
There, passengers were held on the tarmac for three hours before the plane was deemed unsafe to fly. What a nightmare.
But, while delayed flights can put the best of us in a bad mood, Vanessa claims Corden 'walked up the aisles talking to people,' and made the nightmarish ordeal slightly more bearable.
"He was just really nice," she said. "He would have been well within his rights to sit and sulk in his seat like the rest of us would be doing but he didn’t."
When the disgruntled passengers were finally allowed to disembark the plane hours later, Corden was photographed appearing to confront airline staff.
However, Vanessa says he was actually advocating for his fellow passengers, who'd been left stranded in a terminal.
"There was just no one there telling us what was going on," she says.
"The people he’s speaking to in that picture are the flight staff on our plane. I watched him fist bump the pilot as he got off the plane. He said, 'Thank you very much'."
Corden is also said to have rushed to the defence of his fellow passengers when staff said that only club flyers or gold flyers would get free hotel rooms for the night.
"James was a club flyer and he stood there and was like, 'What about all these people who’ve got all these kids with them?' Like saying that’s not acceptable. It’s not right."
And, when the exhausted passengers returned to the airport for their rescheduled flight the next day, Vanessa said Corden was once again a 'lovely guy'.
"I saw him let women and children in front of him. He was a really nice guy both times."