Three Asiana flights leaving Incheon Airport on Sunday were delayed because of passengers who had loaded their luggage but did not show up.

According to the airline, a flight bound for Beijing scheduled for 8:20 a.m. was delayed for about an hour and 50 minutes, as 50 passengers did not show up at the gate. Unloading the luggage of those 50 passengers led to the delay, forcing the 115 passengers onboard the plane to wait until around 10:10 a.m. for the plane to take off.

Another flight bound for Okinawa at 10:10 a.m. was delayed 30 minutes due to a passenger who did not board.

Yet another flight bound for Shanghai at 10:50 a.m. departed at 12:09 p.m. because of 18 passengers who did not show up after their luggage was loaded on the plane. Some 250 passengers had to wait for about an hour and 20 minutes.

An official of Asiana Airlines said there have been several cases where passengers have missed their flight while shopping at the airport’s duty-free stores.

“All three flights were delayed because some passengers did not show up at the gates before the boarding time. We had to unload these passengers’ luggage because of safety reasons, and this caused the flights to be delayed,” the official said.

By Cho Yun-myung (yunc39@heraldcorp.com)