Passengers have been left angry and out of pocket after claiming they were "abandoned" in Bristol Airport when their flight was diverted on its way to Cardiff. Travellers on the Wizz Air flight from Corfu to Cardiff saw their plane forced to divert to Bristol after an incident involving a light aircraft at Cardiff Airport on Sunday, July 3.
The airport said its airfield was closed for nearly an hour after a light aircraft went off the end of the runway during landing, but no-one was injured and there was no damage to the aircraft. WalesOnline later reported that "tired and upset" passengers on the flight - which was due to arrive back in Cardiff just after 1pm on Sunday - were forced to wait on the plane on the Bristol Airport runway for several hours before being told they would not be flying back to Cardiff at all and had to get off the plane.
Now another person on the flight has claimed passengers were declined any food or water by Wizz Air staff on-board as they waited on the runway, and eventually had to find their own way back to Cardiff after being left stranded in Bristol Airport. Jason Edwards, 49, from Swansea said the plane had almost landed in Cardiff Airport when an announcement told passengers they would have to wait due to an incident. "They told us there had been an incident on the runway but they didn't have any more information than that," he said.
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"They said they would circle the airport but only had about ten minutes' fuel left, so after that they would have to land in Bristol to refuel."
Jason said the flight was eventually diverted to Bristol, at which point passengers were told they would return to Cardiff once they had fuel. "We kept being told it wouldn't be long. Time was going on and on and on, and people started getting angry," he said.
"We were told we would be going in about half an hour, and then it was a couple of minutes, and people started cheering. We were then told we were at the back of the queue for take off as Bristol hadn't been expecting us, and that we had to wait longer."
Jason said the plane remained on the runway with everyone on board and that people began to get angry, at which point some men approached staff. "I was near the front and I couldn't hear everything but I heard one man saying he was fed up with waiting. There was an argument and the men said they wanted to get off the flight. They didn't actually get off but they were refusing to fly."
He said other passengers began arguing with the men, one of whom he claims started "shouting and swearing. I heard him say to one passenger 'f*ck off, what's it got to do with you' or something like that because they were telling them to sit down."
He also claims a number of passengers requested food or water from cabin crew but were refused. "One woman said she had a toddler who hadn't eaten since they left that morning. She asked if they could get anything but the staff said they couldn't provide any food or water.
"Another man offered to buy some from them, and there was someone else who said their partner had diabetes and needed something to eat, but the staff said they couldn't give them anything."
After around three hours on the runway, passengers said they were told the flight would not be travelling to Cardiff after all and that everyone would have to disembark.
Jason said people disembarked and got their bags and were told transport back to Cardiff would be organised. However, he said no staff members either from the airport or Wizz Air came to speak to them.
"There were two people in wheelchairs, families with babies, a full flight standing in the airport, and we were left there with no assistance or information. We were running around trying to find staff but there was no-one to be seen except café staff. There were no Wizz Air or Bristol Airport staff."
Jason said that after around two hours another passenger managed to speak to someone working at another airline, who told passengers there was no-one available to help them and that they would have to find their own way back to Cardiff.
In the end Jason said he had to pay £270 for a taxi back to Cardiff with his partner and another couple, and eventually arrived back home to Swansea at around 10pm - nearly ten hours after he had been due to land in Cardiff Airport.
"We were on the plane about seven hours. I got back to Cardiff Airport at 8.30pm having been supposed to land at 1.15pm. We all accepted that there was a delay because there was an incident. These things can happen. But the way we were treated by Wizz Air, not being provided any food or water for hours, was unacceptable.
"We were abandoned in Bristol Airport and just left there. Nobody came to talk to us and we eventually just had to make our own way back to Cardiff. I have complained to Wizz Air already who have told me they won't be paying any compensation as the circumstances were outside their control."
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport told WalesOnline that responsibility for arranging onward travel for any diverted flight in UK airports lies with the airline. Wizz Air was contacted for comment.
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