A woman who missed her dad's funeral because of a flight cancellation has said it was "the worst day of her life".
Tracy Dane, who lives near Lyon in France, lost her father suddenly in late May. She told Panorama that the only flight back to Bristol was with EasyJet, being an evening departure from Geneva.
The presenter says that Tracy arrived at the airport "in good time", but that an EasyJet alert said that IT issues had led to the cancellation of around 200 flights. This appeared to include Tracy's, whose plane hadn't even left Bristol, but she says she wasn't told as otherwise she could have booked a different flight, according to the presenter.
Read next: Eastville Park 'rave' sees residents kept up during heatwave
"It was such an important trip," says Tracy. "I kept checking my phone and I saw that it was cancelled. There was a moment of disbelief."
She adds: "I firmly belief that, had EasyJet officially cancelled the flight when they knew no airplane was going to arrive in Geneva, I would have had time to use the app to switch electronically to the Gatwick flight and I would have been able to go to my dad's funeral.
"I was ten meters away from the bridge to board the flight [to Gatwick], the flight hadn't started boarding. It was probably around 10 o'clock, 10.15, when we realised that no one was going to help us and that we would miss the funeral.
"It is probably the worst day of my life. Just feeling so out of control and no one interested in offering any assistance."
According to Panorama, EasyJet says that Tracy's flight was cancelled because of air traffic control restrictions that meant cabin crew would have exceeded their safe working hours. However, EasyJet has apologised for Tracy's experience and arranged for a donation to be made to the hospice that cared for her father.
Tracy's interview was featured in tonight's (July 18) Panorama "Airport Chaos: What's Gone Wrong". You can watch it on the iPlayer here.
Read more:
- Bristol heatwave live: Monday to be one of the hottest days on record
- Some Wapping Wharf restaurants and shops close in heatwave
- Water companies report supply issues as heatwave causes demand to soar
- Bristol avoids first ever red alert for extreme heat
- Bristol heatwave: When will it be hottest this week?
