Stuart Burden, a 48-year-old British tennis player, was mistakenly identified as a deportee and escorted from a Wizz Air flight upon arrival in Vilnius, Lithuania. Burden was traveling to the Lithuanian capital on August 23 to serve as a hitter for visually impaired players at the World Blind Tennis Championships.
Burden boarded the flight at Luton Airport, London, wearing his team’s tracksuit adorned with a Union Jack and ‘GB’ insignia. He was initially seated in a pre-paid extra legroom seat but was later moved to the back of the aircraft by a flight attendant without explanation. Upon landing, a security official boarded the plane and informed Burden he was a “deportee from the UK.”
Despite presenting his UK passport, Burden was marched off the plane in front of other passengers and taken for questioning. He recounted the experience, stating, “I was wearing a Union Jack - you couldn’t make it up. I thought it was a joke at first. He told me I had been deported and that I had to go with him.”
He described being escorted to a police wagon and questioned, with an officer asking if he was being deported, which he found bewildering. At customs, he observed holding cells.
Meanwhile, Burden's teammates, who were still on the flight, inquired about his absence. It was at this point that the airline and authorities realized a mistake had been made. Burden was then escorted out of the airport by an official who reportedly left without offering an apology.
Burden, a supervisor for an air conditioning company and a semi-professional tennis player, expressed concern that his mistaken identity could have allowed a genuine deportee to go free. The Home Office declined to comment when approached regarding the incident. A Wizz Air spokesperson stated that the airline is cooperating with authorities to investigate the circumstances and offered an apology for the passenger's experience. Lithuanian authorities were also approached for comment.