A Scots woman has hit out after easyJet cancelled her flight home from Mallorca leaving her stranded with no medication.
Pamela Carmichael and her husband Derek had already boarded the aircraft at Palma last night when the captain announced their flight to Edinburgh had been cancelled, despite already taking off.
Pamela, from Harthill, who suffers with COPD, asthma and high blood pressure, said passengers were confused as to what was happening when the plane stopped suddenly on the runway.
The 48-year-old told the Daily Record: "We were all ready to go, the plane started to move along the runway and then suddenly it came to a halt. I didn't know what was going on.
"We were then left sitting there for 45 minutes with no information given to us as to what was going on, for the captain to then announce our flight had been cancelled. He gave us no explanation as to why. I don't think he knew himself."
NHS support worker Pamela, her husband Derek, 49, and the rest of the passengers were then removed from the flight and forced to queue inside the airport for six hours.
Pamela added: "It was horrendous. Nobody had a clue what was happening. There were children and women crying.
"It was roasting hot. I was struggling because I had been standing for so long and I was trying my hardest not to get worked up because I knew my breathing would get bad.
"We all just wanted to get home, but they couldn't tell us when that would be."
When the couple finally spoke with airport staff, they were told the next fight to Edinburgh was not for a further five days and that they would be put up in a nearby hotel room until then.
The mum-of-two said: "I panicked when they said this because we can't stay for another five days. It felt like we were stranded.
"I don't have enough medication to last me that long and I really depend on it.
"We've also both got work to get back to and our dogs are in boarding kennels due to be collected. It's not practical. I don't know how they can expect people to do that.
"The whole situation has been handled appallingly."
The couple were taken to a nearby hotel and have since booked a flight home using another airline.
Pamela said: "We're now booked a Jet2 flight home to Glasgow tomorrow afternoon. It's a bit of a nightmare because our car is at Edinburgh airport, so we'll have to pay about £60/70 for a taxi.
"We did speak to someone from easyJet earlier today and they said there was possibly a flight to Glasgow that we could have got on tomorrow too, but I was terrified the same thing was going to happen again. I don't trust them.
"We spent a lovely week in Santa Ponsa and now it feels like it's been ruined."
An EasyJet spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, we experienced IT systems issues yesterday and while this was rectified later that afternoon, unfortunately around 200 flights due to depart between 13:00 and 15:00 UK time yesterday were cancelled, including Ms Carmichael’s flight from Palma to Edinburgh.
"We provided customers with options to rebook or receive a full refund, however we nonetheless fully understand the disruption this will have caused to people’s plans and we are very sorry for this. Our team are reaching out to Mrs Carmichael to assist her further."
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