Hundreds of people flying with Vueling Airlines to Palma De Mallorca and Alicante have been left stranded in Cardiff Airport as flights have been severely delayed. Currently, flight numbers VY1243, departing to Palma De Mallorca and VY1240, departing to Alicante are facing an estimated delay until 2am on Thursday, October 13.
Passengers who were flying from Cardiff Airport to Palma De Mallorca Airport with Vueling Airlines say their flight was meant to take off at 5.15pm, and claim they have since been told to "sit and wait" while TUI passengers have been escorted to nearby hotels. The flight to Alicante was originally scheduled to depart at 5.20pm.
Steve Takata, from Cardiff, is currently at the airport with his wife Clare and two children, Max and Abbie, waiting to fly to Palma De Mallorca, so they can enjoy their holiday in Alcúdia. He said that he decided to fly with Cardiff Airport as it was close to their home.
He added: "We were meant to fly at 5.15pm but there was a technical issue with the flights to Palma and Alicante. We were told to wait until 6pm for an update - 6 o'clock came and nothing. The app then told us we were going to be delayed until 9pm, then it changed to 2am in the morning." Steve has since received a message from Vueling Airlines to say it has been delayed again until 3.30am.
READ MORE: Holidaymakers stranded at Cardiff Airport as flight delayed by 18 hours
"It's a mixed flight, so TUI passengers have been taken out of the airport and to a hotel, but no-one from Vueling is here and on the phone they just said we'll have to wait. But there's no staff here, WHSmith is closing at 11pm, Costa Coffee is shutting, there's no ground staff or maintenance staff here - there's no one. So if this flight turns up at 2am, there's no staff here to man it."
Responding to the passenger's complaint, Cardiff Airport said the the flight wasn’t mixed with TUI passengers and as Vueling is a low cost airline, they do not have representation in the airport.
Steve said there are young children around the airport with families left uncertain about what to do next. He said: "We've never been in this situation before and are not sure what to do next. We don't know whether to go home and if we're able to claim our money back if the flight is still there. We don't know if this flight is actually going to fly out because we can't get any answers from anyone. So we're just sat around waiting.
Meanwhile, other passengers have taken to social media to try and contact Vueling. One person said: "@vueling sat in cardiff airport. Flight to Alicante keeps being delayed from original time of 17.20pm. No one is at the airport to tell us what is going on. If we leave the airport can we get refunded and compensation? I can’t sit here till 2am when the flight is now due to leave."
Another said: "@vueling why are there two planes stuck in @Cardiff_Airport airport for 7 hrs and you keep changing delayed times every 5mins and with no staff to update two plane loads of passengers,2yr old children along with 90yr old's all waiting here for 7 hrs and counting."
In total, the flights to Alicante and Palma de Mallorca were delayed by nine hours and 11 hours respectively for operational reasons and to guarantee the safety of passengers and crews. Passengers were given food and drink vouchers and offered the options of refund and free change.
A spokesperson for Cardiff Airport said: “We are sorry to hear that some passengers were delayed for their flights last night, due to aircraft operational issues outside of the airlines control.
“At Cardiff Airport, Safety and Security for our customers and staff is our number one priority. Our obligation as a port is to provide a safe secure environment for the airlines to interact with their passengers. We actively encourage our airline partners to look after customers when disruption does occur. In order to mitigate the impact of these delays, passengers were offered food vouchers and our restaurant and shopping facilities remained open and airline representatives were available onsite to support passengers.”
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