I am too tired to fly, pilot tells passengers

A British Airways pilot refused to fly from Delhi to London yesterday because he and his crew had not had enough time to rest during a 24-hour stop-over in the Indian capital.

In the latest of a series of embarrassments for the airline, passengers were informed of the pilot’s decision as they were about to board flight BA 142, which was scheduled to take off at 2.10am yesterday.

They were then sent to Le Méridien Hotel, where many were forced to share beds because there were not enough rooms available.

Neal Thapar, a financial PR consultant from London, who had a premium economy class ticket, found himself sharing a double bed with Mark Harris, chief executive of the National Lottery Commission, who was flying business class. The two had never met before.

When passengers returned to the airport for their rescheduled flight in the afternoon, the pilot, Peter Williams, told them that he could not have flown at the original time because he had not had enough rest.

A BA spokeswoman explained later that Mr Williams and his crew, who arrived in Delhi at about 2am on Saturday, had been kept awake by noise from a social function and construction work at their hotel.