A Carrickfergus man has said he was "gutted" to miss out on a family holiday to Amsterdam when his EasyJet flight was cancelled after they had already boarded the plane.
Alan Kennedy, 55, was due to fly to Schipol Airport in the Netherlands with his wife and two teenage children on Saturday night only for the flight from Belfast International to be cancelled at the last minute.
Having already boarded and observed the safety demonstration, his first indication the flight was cancelled came from the pilot over the aircraft's tannoy system.
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Speaking to Belfast Live on Sunday, he said he is "gutted" having booked time off work and missed out on his holiday.
"I'm from Carrickfergus, and we were going to Amsterdam for four nights - myself, my wife and two kids, both teenagers," he said. "We were flying with EasyJet, from Belfast International.
"Last night it showed that the flight was delayed by half an hour on the board, but when we actually got on to the flight it was delayed by longer than that. It was delayed by over an hour. The flight was meant to go out at 6.50pm, but when we were in the airport it was delayed to 7.35pm.
"So, whenever we boarded we were sitting on the plane and it was past 8pm then, and they had done the safety demonstration and everything. The pilot then came out, and that was the only indication we had, across the tannoy and said there's an 11pm curfew in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.
"Even though we'd have got there before 11pm because they couldn't get turned around to leave again before 11pm. That was the only indication we've had from EasyJet, other than an email from them last night - because we'd booked a package with them, a hotel as well - saying that they'd give us a refund for the flight and the hotel. Now, we'd booked other things as well. We'd booked our train transfer, we'd booked trips, and it cost me £50 to stay in the airport for the extra time last night because I'd booked my car in."
Mr Kennedy said he had also lost out on time he had booked off work for the holiday.
He also raised concerns the cancellation may be a frequent occurrence for that particular route, after speaking with fellow customers.
"The strange thing is they hadn't started the engine, they hadn't started to taxi, when they had done the demonstration and then we saw the stewards starting to scurry up and down the aisle with phones in their hands so I thought there was something funny going on," he said
"The guy sitting next to me said it was the third time he'd had that flight cancelled on him. Another family we were talking to while we were trying to get our bags back said they had that same flight cancelled just last week - the second time in a week.
"If that is a regular occurrence, that Amsterdam flight being cancelled, it's something that people should be made aware of.
"We are absolutely gutted that we were all sitting on the plane, ready to go, and then we had to get off the plane. It took an age to get off the plane which just made everyone a bit more irate. There was no EasyJet representative in the airport.
"There were a few airport staff there who didn't really know what was going on, and it was all just very confused. I'm absolutely gutted. I've taken time off work and that was to be the start of the holiday. Our kids are 14 and 18 and the 18-year-old isn't going to want to go on too many holidays with his parents, that might have been one of our last holidays we would all go on. He's not going to Krakow with us."
Belfast Live has approached EasyJet for comment.
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