‘Traumatised’ passengers have spoken out after a last-minute Easyjet flight cancellation which left them stranded in Spain without a return flight.
Holiday goers on EZY2016 flight from Alicante to Manchester claim they were given no assistance by the airline and were left without food, accommodation, or a flight back to Manchester.
On April 13 the passengers were told their flight couldn’t run due to an incident on a incoming flight, which saw police meet the aircraft at the airport. After being told, they had to turn around and walk back through border control.
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Speaking to Manchester Evening News, the passengers said that Easyjet had promised assistance with food and accommodation, as well as a ‘guaranteed’ return flight the next day on April 14. However, a number of passengers were still left without assistance.
Easyjet said that the cancellation was 'out of their control', but maintained that customers' costs will be reimbursed, and that travellers were offered the option of a transfer to an alternative flight free of charge, or a refund, as well as hotel accommodation and meals.
One passenger who was forced to drive hours through the night to get his family on a flight from Valencia, before he returned to Alicante to catch his own return flight, is dad of two Tony Fretwell.
The dad from Warrington, claimed that the passengers were initially told by pilots that there would be a hotel and bus arranged for them, and flights would be rearranged. But when he got through check-in, he claims Easyjet staff told them they had to rebook online.
"No help or anything," he said. "Children, babies, elderly just left. I heard most slept at the airport. The prices flew up too as everyone was on their phones looking. EasyJet refused to look for us and just told us to look over selves. The lack of care for the young and old was quite staggering.
"It was carnage and most information came in drips then rumours spread so no one had a clue what was correct or not. It became every person for themselves. Awful."
Mr Fretwell estimates that due to the disruption he spent between £1,500 and £2,000. His wife and children made it back safely, however, Tony is still stuck in Spain. According to the Manchester Evening News, several passengers have not been able to return to the UK.
Carole claimed she was forced to sleep on airport benches after being unable to fund her own accommodation for the night. She said she witnessed 'at least a dozen' passengers forced to sleep in the airport on Thursday night.
She eventually managed to board a flight to Leeds Bradford Airport on Friday afternoon, at over double the cost of her original flight. She said she had been forced to put the cost on a credit card, and said the experience made her 'want to cry'.
An Easyjet spokesperson said: “EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY2015 from Manchester to Alicante on 13 April was met by police on arrival due to a group of passengers behaving disruptively onboard and as a result the return flight to Manchester was unable to operate.
“The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always easyJet's priority. We take incidents of disruptive behaviour very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard and our cabin crew are trained to assess all situations and to act quickly and appropriately, to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.
"While this was outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused those due to travel on the return flight to Manchester. We provided customers with the option of a transfer to an alternative flight free of charge, or a refund, as well as hotel accommodation and meals for those customers who required them. Should customers have sourced their own flights, including with alternative airlines, accommodation and meals, or incurred other expenses, we will reimburse them."
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