A couple had a nightmare end to their first holiday together when they were left stranded in the airport despite arriving three hours early for their flight home. Chloe Lightfoot and Chelsea Robinson, both 23, watched in horror as their plane flew off without them after a shortage of staff at Amsterdam Airport meant they were stuck in the line for security for three hours.
The couple say they had followed easyJet’s advice to arrive early for their 2pm flight back to Manchester on Monday (September 26). Chloe told the M.E.N. that they were held up due to understaffing and they had to pay around over £350 for a flight to Edinburgh the following day (September 27) and one night’s stay in a hotel in Amsterdam.
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EasyJet say they were aware of the long delays at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and have reimbursed Chloe and Chelsea for their flight home and the hotel. Speaking to the M.E.N. about their experience, Chloe said: “When we arrived we were saying ‘these lines are taking a while’. We saw other people saying their gates were about to close and security managed to get them through. So we asked the security and they said they couldn’t help us.
“By the time we got to the gate we could see the plane flying away. It was literally so sad. We just kind of stood there staring in shock until a man asked us if we were from Manchester and said we just missed our plane.
“We were in contact with easyJet but we were going around in circles. We just didn’t really know what to do because there was no help from the desks or anyone else.
“The lady at the desk said they recommended people come there four hours before because they were really understaffed.
“The easyJet app said come two hours early, but we came three hours early and we still missed our plane. I feel like the app should know how busy airports are.”
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “We are aware of longer than usual security queues at Amsterdam airport yesterday, caused by a shortage of airport staff and while this was outside of our control we did all possible to assist any customers who missed their flight as a result of these queues, offering free flight transfers and hotel accommodation where required and so we are refunding Ms Lightfoot and Ms Robinson for their new flight and reimbursing them for their hotel expenses.”
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol have been approached for comment.
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