A group of friends from Derry have spoken of their anger and frustration after they were left stranded in Amsterdam after easyJet cancelled their flight without warning.
Shannen McMenamin, 21, her partner Conor and friends Aoife and Nathan all travelled to Amsterdam on April 18 having previously booked their flights in March 2020, before Covid-19.
EasyJet previously told Belfast Live that the situation was "outside of our control" and that they were "sorry" after another passenger with Cystic Fibrosis was also left in limbo and was running out of vital medicine.
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Ms McMenamin contacted MyDerry and said she was due to leave Holland's capital on April 22 but the airline cancelled at the last minute.
She said: "We arrived at Amsterdam airport on the 22nd April when we were due to go home, where we learnt our flight home to Belfast, is delayed for an hour, to then find out 15 minutes before departure that the flight has been cancelled.
"We were not approached by any staff member and had to proceed back through arrivals in Amsterdam airport including passport checks to find that our suitcase was missing.
"While attempting to find our suitcases, I approached the EasyJet help desk where there was no staff and we were told by another airline information desk that easyJet is now a digital airline therefore, there are no EasyJet workers at the airport to guide us.
"We were advised to ring easyJet customer service. When I finally got through after waiting 40 minutes we were told that easyJet could not provide an alternative flight to Belfast until Monday 25th. They went on to tell us that if we changed over to that flight then they would provide us with hotel accommodation for the three extra nights that we would have to stay in Amsterdam.
"[They] told us that we would receive information through email about the hotel they were going to arrange for us in the next two hours. But three and a half hours later we've still been left stranded in Amsterdam airport with no information about the hotel easyJet told us they would organise for us.
"We rang easyJet once again after being on hold for over an hour and we were finally told that they could not provide us with a hotel for the three nights and that we would have to find our own accommodation, pay for it ourselves, and claim the money back from easyJet if the hotel was below three stars."
Stuck over 700 miles from home, the group of friends frantically tried to find out what to do next - having little money of their own to pay for a hotel for another three nights.
Shannen explained that the friends told easyJet's customer service team that they couldn't afford to pay for an additional three nights. The 21-year-old said this prompted EasyJet to ask if the group could 'ask friends or family' for the money.
"This was a completely personal question which should not have been asked as EasyJet have no insight into their passengers' personal lives and should not have advised that we borrow money from family," Shannen said.
"We were basically told that this was our only option to pay for a hotel ourselves and the cheapest we could find was a hotel room with four single beds which cost €1100 for the three nights, money which we had to borrow from our parents.
"We had little spending money left to provide for ourselves as we were told they would not cover our meals or any other expenses we needed to live in Amsterdam for another 72 hours."
But the nightmare travel scenario has only started for the group of four after finding out that EasyJet had also cancelled their second flight to Belfast on Monday (April 25).
Shannen added: "We were again given the options to switch to a different easyJet flight, none of which were flying to Belfast or Dublin therefore this meant we would have to fly to the UK with the free changeover flight then proceed to pay our own way from the UK to Ireland.
Bear in mind we had already spent all our money living in Amsterdam for an extra three days and did not feel we wanted to trust changing over to another easyJet flight as it would more than likely be cancelled once again.
"We asked if we could change to another airline as there were other flights, leaving Amsterdam that could get us home that same day but easyJet told us that they would only pay the difference between the 'flights, therefore, we'd have to pay for the rest ourselves which again cost £500 plus.
"Our only option left was to stay in Amsterdam for another night. We explained that we already borrowed money from our parents and families to pay for the first hotel because of the first flight they cancelled which cost us over €1000 and that we couldn't possibly pay for another night in a hotel ourselves.
"This carried on for a while and we had no follow-up from EasyJet once again therefore we were left with no choice but to book another hotel ourselves."
The Derry-natives explained that they were left with no option but to begin a journey that would take them across Europe in order to get home.
"Having no way home, our final, option was to stay in Amsterdam another night and the next day, get the Eurostar train which cost €205 each, from Amsterdam to Brussels, Brussels to London and then pay for a flight with a different airline from London to Dublin where we would then get the bus from Dublin to Belfast international airport to collect our car which we also had to pay over £50 plus extra for because it had been in the car park five days longer than it should've been.
"EasyJet tried to convince us to get an alternative flight with them from Amsterdam to London Gatwick which we refused due to the situation we had already been in for over four days.
"And thankfully we made the right decision in getting our own way home as that flight was also cancelled last minute as well as every other easyJet flight leaving Amsterdam."
Shannen said: "EasyJet were absolutely no help throughout this nightmare that was supposed to be our Easter break holiday.
"We received no guidance or support, only excuses throughout the entire situation, excuses that were not good enough for leaving us stranded in Amsterdam for four extra days."
An easyJet spokesperson told MyDerry: "EasyJet can confirm that flight EJU6772 from Amsterdam to Belfast on 22 April was cancelled due to operating restrictions at Amsterdam airport caused by heavy winds combined with ongoing runway maintenance, which meant the inbound flight would have broken the airport curfew.
"Customers were advised of the cancellation via email, sms and our app using the contact details provided when booking. Where passengers have booked flights through a third party travel agent, we always ask third parties to ensure they pass on any important information to their customers.
"We did all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for our customers, offering hotel accommodation where required and customers were able to transfer to an alternative flight free of charge, or receive a voucher or a refund.
"The quickest and easiest way for customers to book a hotel and transfer to an alternative easyJet flight is via Manage Bookings or through the easyJet app.
"Due to limited hotel room availability in Amsterdam, unfortunately, we were unable to provide rooms for all customers and advised that anyone who sourced their own hotel accommodation will be reimbursed for any reasonable expenses.
"While this was outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the cancellation. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is our highest priority.”
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