Two friends who were left 'stranded' after their easyJet flight was cancelled last minute say they missed a wedding, a baby scan and lost a day's wages because of it.
Declan Lally, 29, was due to travel from Faro to Bristol late on Thursday, May 19 on easyJet flight EZY6010, when it was cancelled very last minute. The self-employed barber was flying back home with his friend, who he had travelled with to watch the Europa League final last Wednesday, between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers.
The pair had travelled to Portugal from Dublin and Glasgow on a Ryanair flight, but were using easyJet to get home. The game was being played in Seville, Spain, and so the friends got to Faro on Monday night, before getting a bus to Seville on Tuesday.
Read more: EasyJet Faro to Bristol flight cancellation left traveller 'with nowhere to sleep'
They then got a taxi from Seville to Faro on their journey home on Thursday, arriving for their scheduled 10.20pm flight at 6pm. Declan said he was told by staff at the airport in Faro that their flight was delayed by 10 minutes and, as he was checked in online, then made it through security. He stood at the gates with passports checked ready to board and with the plane "in sight" but, despite witnessing people getting off the plane and believing it would just refuel and they'd be on their way, come 11pm he was told his flight had been cancelled.
Declan said: "I'm a self employed barber so I lost my fully-booked diary on the Friday when I was meant to be home. I also lost out on the Saturday, which had also been fully booked.
"I had two wedding parties booked in for haircuts - one on Friday and one on Saturday and I had to let them both down. I was even supposed to be attending my pals' wedding on Sunday and so also had to let her down - though I managed to show up very late on Sunday night but I was falling asleep in the car over so wasn't much of a guest.
"It means she has lost the money she spent for me to attend her wedding, because I didn't make it in time to see her get married and I missed her meal."
After being contacted by BristolLive, EasyJet apologised for the inconvenience caused by the cancellation.
Declan's friend Richard, 28, who he was travelling with also missed a baby scan with his partner, but Declan said thankfully he didn't miss work on Monday.
The pair, who are both from Helensburgh in Scotland, were supposed to be meeting another friend William in Bristol so all three of them could fly together. Declan's plan had been to fly from Faro to Bristol with easyJet and then catch another easyJet flight from Bristol to Glasgow with his friends, however as the Faro flight got cancelled he didn't make his Glasgow flight and claims easyJet have told him he won't get a refund.
While using the easyJet app to try and book alternative flights in Faro, Declan says the app kept crashing and "never ever worked". He added: "It kept coming up with error messages. The app must have been crashing with everyone trying to book something else."
Declan also said that, as easyJet is represented by a third party company in Faro, nobody directly from easyJet was around to speak to. Declan and his friend were instead handed a piece of paper titled 'what to do if your flight is delayed or cancelled'.
Taking to Twitter to try and get answers, Declan asked the airline whether he'd be able to get a refund for his missed flight, to which easyJet responded: "For the flight you have missed due to the disruption, you would need to claim this via any valid travel insurance you may have. If you have booked an onward flight with easyJet or another carrier, this represents a separate contract of carriage.
"We do not guarantee or accept liability for missed onward carriage on a subsequent flight. Where you choose to book such an onward flight."
Declan said: "It was third party so there weren't any easyJet staff around when it got cancelled and we didn't see anyone who represented easyJet again in the airport until 5.30am the morning after our cancelled flight. The only time I met someone from easyJet was on the plane to Liverpool.
"Liverpool or London were the only destinations they could change our flight to for two people together. EasyJet said it wasn't their responsibility to get us back to Glasgow."
After spending the night sleeping on the floor in the airport, the pair and other passengers from the cancelled flight waited to speak with the third party representatives for easyJet and did so at around 5.30am the following morning - seven hours after their cancelled flight. And Declan claims the representatives simply showed them a phone number to call easyJet on.
Then, once they arrived in Liverpool, the pair then had to get a taxi from Liverpool airport and a bus to Manchester Airport as they said no trains were available until 10.30am. They eventually got a train from Manchester Airport to Preston, another train to Carlisle and a replacement bus to Glasgow because, again, no trains were available.
Then, from Glasgow, they got another train home to Helensburgh. Declan said they had to pay for all of their travel (taxis, buses, new flights and train tickets), hotel and food expenses. Declan went on to say: "EasyJet left everyone stranded in the airport unless you could afford a taxi - it was a 45 minute drive to the hotel. But the person who handed us the easyJet leaflet which told us what to do if our flight was cancelled said that someone would come and get us on a bus but nobody ever came for us.
"The only people who managed to get on a bus were people who had booked holiday packages. They got taken away but everyone else was left behind.
"If I knew that easyJet wouldn't have come for us and would, instead, leave us in the dark the way they did, I'd have jumped in a taxi to a hotel, booked in and then booked a flight with Ryanair. But this one guy left working at the airport said 'stay here and easyJet would send a bus for everyone and take us to a hotel and our flight would probably be back on in the morning' so we did that.
"When it became clear easyJet weren't coming to help us we just got a taxi to a nearby hotel who said they were full, so we had to go back at noon and check in. So we were in that airport from Thursday at 6pm to Friday at 9am. We got a hotel for the Friday night and then flew to Liverpool on Saturday night, before basically being stranded in Liverpool again and having to find our own way home to Glasgow."
Declan says that this experience has put him off booking with easyJet again, however he's not done with them just yet. "I sadly have five flights due with them," Declan said. "I'm nervous the same thing could happen again.
"After those flights are done I don't think I'll book with them until I find out what compensation I'll get because so far I've had to pay for the taxis to another hotel, pay for that hotel and food and get from Liverpool Airport to Glasgow. I think easyJet's take on it is 'we will book you free of charge on a different flight to anywhere in the UK', but you have to then pay your hotel and keep the receipts to try and reclaim it back.
"We had no money left so I had to use my bank card and go into my savings. The only reason we didn't book another flight with, say, Ryanair, there is because there was nothing left due to how busy the football crowds are.
"And because that one staff member on site said to stay in the airport and that easyJet would come soon and help us, but they never did come. I just feel fortunate I had savings to try and sort something else out and we’re both young boys, but this happened to a couple with a baby and they couldn’t get any baby food or anything. It was a total riot.
"EasyJet have a lot to answer for. They literally left us stranded with no way to get home for a few days. Nobody to help us. It’s shocking to think this happens. I’m going to try to get hold of easyJet for my refund and hope travel insurance covered me."
Comment from easyJet
A spokesperson from easyJet said: “We can confirm that this flight EZY6010 from Faro to Bristol was cancelled as a result of a technical issue onboard the aircraft due to operate the flight.
“We did all possible to minimise the disruption, helping customers transfer to alternative flights for free, with availability on subsequent easyJet flights from Faro on the same day, and provided overnight hotel accommodation and meals for those who required them. Any customers who sourced their own hotel accommodation will be reimbursed for this and any other reasonable expenses and anyone who no longer wished to travel can receive a voucher or a full refund.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the cancellation. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority.”
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