A dad has told of his family's "day of hell" stuck in an airport that ended with a cancelled flight. David Holmes and his family set off for their break in Portugal on Monday lunchtime.
But after arriving at Belfast International Airport at 1.30pm it took around six hours of waiting around with their 17-month-old daughter before they were told the flight would not be going ahead. The family is now preparing to fly out three days later.
This time they will fly with a different airline, switching from easyJet to Jet2. But their new break is costing them over £700 more than the one they had planned.
EasyJet has apologised to the family for the disruption to their plans. It has also said it will compensate them for the additional expenses.
Mr Holmes told the Belfast Telegraph how their suspicions were raised when they awoke on Monday at 7am to find they had an alert warning their planned 4.30pm flight was delayed until 5pm. He said he was surprised the flight tracker alert was so early in the day.
He said: "Having flown a lot of times it was strange that the last flight of the day would be delayed so early, as they can usually make that time up throughout the day. We set off for the airport at 12.30pm... and we arrived at the airport at 1.30pm.
"On arrival at the airport another delay was announced for 5.30pm. Though there was no mention of any delays whilst checking in our bags from any member of the easyJet staff.
"We then sat until 3.45pm and another text came through that the flight would be delayed until 6.45pm. We were also told there would be no food served on board - not sure why.
"Our Gate 18 was then shown at 6.05pm and we proceeded to head down the stairs into the tiny room for boarding. Our passports and boarding cards were checked and we proceeded to queue up along the window ready for boarding with our now exhausted 17-month-old daughter.
"A lady from Swissport then entered the room and announced the flight had been cancelled, everyone went from complete shock to anger. There was people crying as they had family who had already flown out from Dublin that morning.
"We were then ushered up to the top of the stairs with no information given. Again a Swissport employee told us to head downstairs via a back hallway.
"As we entered the baggage check area you could tell reality had hit of the situation we were in. A group of hens had only booked from Monday-Thursday and the only information we were given was to book on the next available flight. Jet2 only had one seat available for a flight the following morning and easyJet was completely sold out."
The Bangor man says airport police then then arrived to calm the situation down as people were demanding answers. He added: "We were getting nothing in return.
"At 7.45pm I asked the Swissport employee if there was someone from easyJet we could speak to. Our daughter had now been awake from 7am and was the most upset we have ever seen her.
"As of today at 9.26am we have had no contact from easyJet, however we are going to apply for compensation after being in the airport for seven hours and wasting money and time for a flight that never happened. We have managed to book a Jet2 flight on Thursday June 9 returning on the 16th at an extra cost of £705!
"This has really made me think about booking another flight with easyJet. It was meant to be an amazing family holiday and it turned into a day of hell at the airport."
An easyJet spokesperson said: "We are very sorry that Mr Holmes flight EZY6795 from Belfast to Faro on 6 June was cancelled.
"We provided customers with options to rebook or receive a full refund as well as hotel accommodation, along with information on how to arrange this online or via the app. Nonetheless, we fully understand the disruption this will have caused to their plans and we are very sorry for this.
"Our team will be reaching out to Mr Holmes to apologise for his family’s experience. We will also be reimbursing them for expenses incurred as a result of the cancellation.”
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