Two women have spoken about the disaster they experienced as passengers were left stranded in Palma Airport after a Jet2 flight to Manchester was 'delayed' for almost 24 hours. Nyomi Loftus and Megan Sainsbury say they were left without food or water for 11 hours after their flight from Spain back home was cancelled.
On Saturday (June 18), the duo arrived at the airport early for their Jet2 flight home, which was due to depart at 11.25pm. However, after a number of delays, the pair were eventually given an update more than three hours later at 3.50am that their flight had been cancelled.
Nyomi and Megan say a mix-up with the baggage process caused Jet2 to "miss their slot to fly". Around 70 water bottled were handed out to the 380 passengers of the flight before arrangements for hotels were made, Nyomi told the Manchester Evening News.
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The 36-year-old, from Sale, said: “The worst part was that they called out the names of 30/40 passengers and told them to go to a special spot so we could go to an adult-only hotel. We had to pay for the hotel; families with babies were lying on the floor. The hotel ended up being a family hotel anyway – they could have gone."
She added: “We were told there was a mix-up with the baggage and they had miscounted. They had to unload it off one plane before moving it and then they lost the slot to fly as the staff needed a rest. No one could get any detail from anyone.”
The two friends then had to fork out €65 for a 40 minute taxi ride from the airport to their hotel. “There was a little girl sat near us in the airport who was being sick because she was crying so much,” Nyomi said. "People were just walking around trying to find out what was going on. It was left it absolute uproar – it was a bit of a disaster."
They hoped they could fly back to Manchester the following day (Sunday, June 19) at 11.35pm. She added: “We are currently sat on a coach heading back to the airport but we still don’t know what time the flight is or if there is even a flight confirmed. The first food and drink was provided at the hotel at 7.30am - eight hours after our flight was due to depart and 11 hours after we arrived at the airport.
“We are both due to start new jobs on Monday. I have been told by my new job that if I miss my start date tomorrow, I will have to join the next intake which means I will have no job for four to five weeks.” Passengers say they were told the flight was cancelled, but Jet2 have insisted the plane was instead delayed. Passengers were eventually flown home nearly 24 hours later.
In a statement, a spokesman for Jet2 said: “We would like to apologise once again to customers affected by this delay. Our teams have worked tirelessly to look after everyone, however unfortunately there was a shortage of accommodation in Majorca yesterday evening.
"We advised customers immediately via text that we would reimburse anyone that needed to book hotels separately and we have done everything we can to look after everyone. All remaining customers are being flown home this evening.”
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