Tempers fly as stewardess exits by chute May 10 2004 = = By The Journal = = An emotional air hostess stormed off her plane at the last minute by slid= ing down the emergency chute, it has been revealed. Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Newcastle Airport for four hours = - and offered only =A33 each for the inconvenience. The captain left the cockpit to explain to passengers on the MyTravel fli= ght from Newcastle to Menorca that the stewardess had broken the seal to = the escape chute, grounding the plane. He said it would prove too difficult to get a replacement part to fix the= chute used by the hostess, so he was ordering another plane, from Cardif= f. The amazing scene meant almost 200 passengers - many of them young famili= es with babies - were taken off the plane and had to sit in the airport l= ounge for another four hours until the replacement plane arrived on Frida= y morning. Mother-of-three Margaret Ramsay, from County Durham, said: "We thought we= were just about to take off when a cabin girl walked down the aisle and = got her bag from the locker. We thought it was strange. Then we saw her w= alking across the Tarmac. The captain told us she was very upset." A spokesperson for Newcastle Airport confirmed the replacement aircraft h= ad taken off at 10.26am. For their inconvenience the holidaymakers, from all over the North of Eng= land, were given a =A33 voucher each. One passenger fumed: "It wasn't even enough for a sandwich and a drink." = The second plane took passengers to Mahon without incident and the captai= n again apologised for their "bad luck". A spokesperson for My Travel Airways said: "Following a technical issue w= ith an emergency chute, passengers were unavoidably delayed, which we apo= logise for. "A replacement aircraft was immediately found from Cardiff. "The health and safety of our passengers is paramount and we cannot opera= te an aircraft without the necessary equipment." = Roger EWROPS